When I awoke to the alarm I was immediately conscious of Selina clinging to me tightly, almost desperately, in her sleep. I could also feel in the back of my mind that Cinder was awake so that meant that I had two kids to show some affection. I reached over to turn off the alarm while wrapping my still somewhat sleepy thoughts around Cinder’s presence in my mind like a quilt patched together with warmth, affection, and love. ~Good morning, Cinder, how’s my baby this morning?~

The Salamander’s mental presence seemed to curl up cozily within my own, the raw warmth and affection of her infant mind nuzzling against mine in response. There was so much genuine love and adoration there and, as always, it warmed my heart in ways that I had never experienced before our bonding. Feeling another presence sharing your mind and body, one that depended on you and loved you that much, it would take a pretty shitty and self-absorbed person not to love her back.

For a few minutes, I just laid there luxuriating in our mental embrace, time for only the two of us. Despite her sleepy protests though, I had to extract my thoughts so I could get both Selina and myself ready for the day ahead. So I gave Cinder one last mental embrace and, as she nuzzled against my thoughts and drifted gradually back toward unconsciousness, I turned my attention to my new charge, gently shaking her shoulder.

“Selina, I know that you probably didn’t sleep very well but it’s time to get up,” I said in an as quiet and gentle tone as possible. The last thing that this girl needed was to be woken roughly or to raised voices if my suspicions were correct. For her sake, I would need to make a conscious effort to be as loving and supportive as possible while remaining mindful to not do anything that might trigger her seemingly fragile mind.

For a moment, she nuzzled in closer, the protective ball that she was curled up in seeming to seek as much physical contact as possible. It was as if she was afraid that she would wake up and find out that I wasn’t real but, given her behavior the night before, that wasn’t all that surprising. I was about to issue another slightly more insistent attempt at waking her when those strange and beautiful turquoise and gold eyes began to flutter open.

The moment that her eyes opened completely she was instantly alert and they were scanning the area as if searching for danger. It took her several seconds to realize where she was and when she did she visibly relaxed as she yawned and stretched and her wings opened up. I had noticed in our limited interaction so far that when she was sleepy or feeling guarded her wings pulled inward to fold themselves against her back, was it some sort of instinctive defense mechanism?

Her stretching complete, she smiled adoringly at me. “Good morning, Momma. I… thought that I dreamed last night,” she admitted timidly. The blush she wore tinted her sapphire blue skin a deep royal purple, though her freckles seemed unaffected as they continued to glow faintly with their golden light.

“Well, seeing as you’re here with me, you probably didn’t,” I replied offering a supportive smile. “Are you going to be okay to go take a shower in your room, Selina? There should be enough basic shampoo and conditioner and stuff in there for now, and we’ll get you more later today. I’m going to take one as well and once I’m ready your Aunt Jess, Melody, and I will try to find you something to wear, okay?”

She seemed hesitant for a moment but then took a deep breath, bit her lower lip a little, and finally nodded. “Okay, Momma.”

Once my new ‘daughter’ had left to return to her room I was able to head into my bathroom for a shower of my own. I didn’t realize just how tense I was until I felt that hot water hitting my muscles. For a while, I just enjoyed the spray of water and then I really enjoyed the spray. Oh, my Goddess, Carmen was right. That pulse setting on the handheld showerhead was amazing. I got a pair of really satisfying orgasms out of it and it was so damn nice to get some sort of relief and ease my sexual tension, even if It was only a drop in the bucket.

After that, I was quite a bit more relaxed as I hurried through the rest of my shower. I still made sure to do everything that Jess had gone over in her lessons, it was just a bit quicker. I had dried off and was working on my hair with my hairdryer when my sister knocked on my door and peeked inside. “So, how is Momma Crystal this morning?” she teased.

I rolled my eyes and let out a sigh as I kept working on my hair for a moment before giving her a serious look. “Well, it’s official, you’re now an aunt.” At her look of confusion, I began to explain. I started with how she had apparently imprinted on me and how that and the fact that I had been the one to accidentally create her made me responsible for her. I also told her Selina’s new name and about how she had had a nightmare and came to climb in bed with me in the early hours of the morning.

Between that and what she had heard last night of what Selina had been through until we found her, Jess agreed that Selina really needed a loving and supportive family. Since Jess was near-identical to me I was hoping that Selina might start to trust Jess a little easier than the others. So, while I got dressed, my sister went to her room to look through her old clothes from before we started to do the twin thing in the hopes of finding some stuff that might fit Selina.

Jessica had been an inch or so taller at five foot five before she changed to look like me but she had also been a lot less curvy so her old clothes might be a little long on Selina, who was probably about five foot one. Still, they would fit her less developed frame a lot better than anything we wore now. There was also the fact that we could be sure that all of her old clothes were made from natural fibers. Dr. Diaz had proven that Selina was a Fey variant last night in part because of her looks, but also because of the fading rash from the synthetic fibers that she had been wearing when I changed her.

When I joined Jess and we took the pile of clothes in to see what could work for her we also discovered that, much like a Nymph, wearing clothes made Selina feel anxious and uncomfortable. Still, we managed to get her into some silk undergarments that didn’t fit her too badly, followed by a coral-colored silk halter top that kept Selina’s wings free and a black and baby pink tartan skirt that worked well on her long legs. The black and pink canvas running shoes were about a size too big, but some cotton socks helped with that.

Selina had decided that she wanted to wear her long hair down instead of tying it back in a ponytail or something to keep it out of her way. It was down past her shoulder blades and the predominantly honey blonde color was very striking against her sapphire blue skin. I felt that the turquoise streaks added a bit of sass and personality too. Still, rather than having it completely loose, Jess used a pair of navy blue hair clips with glittery butterflies on them to have Selina’s hair frame her face nicely rather than having it constantly get in her eyes and in the way.

By the time we got her ready to go downstairs the clothes were making her uncomfortable and fidgety and the expression on her face was really conflicted as she looked herself over in the mirror. “It’s okay, you’ll get used to your new self,” Jess tried to assure her with a concerned look. “Crystal… your mom hasn’t been a Nymph all that long and she went through a big change too.”

Selina’s breathing hitched slightly in surprise and she shook her head, looking like she was trying to hold back tears. “It’s not that. I… I’m finally a girl and I think that this is who I was meant to be. I… just… it’s the clothes. I don’t want to seem ungrateful because these are the nicest clothes I’ve ever worn. I… umm… I could never find nice things like this in the charity bins and I really like them but…”

I placed a hand gently on her shoulder to try to calm her some and attempted to speak in a tone that would reassure her. “I know, wearing clothes makes you feel uncomfortable and is extremely anxiety-inducing, I have the same problem so we understand, Selina. We’re not going to get upset with you about it. It’s okay to not wear clothes in the privacy of your room but around other people, especially normies, you have to wear them and they need to be made from natural fibers. You’ll need a glamour as well; Aunt Merry will teach you about that.”

We were a few minutes late for breakfast after leaving Selina’s room and meeting up with Melody, partly because of the prolonged good morning kisses and groping. Don’t judge us, we were clam jammed again last night and the showerhead was nice, but I wanted Melody. Everyone was already settled and eating by the time we joined them.

Selina actually looked to me for permission before reaching for anything and I had to wonder when the last time was that the poor girl had eaten a decent meal. Everyone, including me, encouraged her to not be shy and to eat her fill, and as she ate I explained who she was and what had happened the night before to everyone. Once that was out of the way, the introductions were made.

Selina was, of course, a bit shy with everyone at first, especially the few males in our family. I probably would have been too after what had happened to her the night before, so everyone was fairly understanding. Even Lou made a concentrated effort not to stick his foot in his mouth, though he did inform me that his uncle was willing to let us use his shop for installing the mods for the Charger on Sunday, the day after Christmas. His uncle was even willing to help us to make sure that everything was done right and had contacted his friend about getting the custom roll bars for the Charger as well.

Selina did hit it off fairly well with Carmen and Sorcha, or rather she was less shy with them than with everyone else. Carmen wasn’t too much older than her and Sorcha is just too freaking adorable not to love at first sight. Everyone was trying to put her at ease and treat her as part of the family and, though I could see that it made Selina happy, she wasn’t really sure what to do or where she fit in. So she spent a lot of her time watching quietly, even with those of us she did seem comfortable with.

Yeah, it was going to take her a while to get used to being around people who cared for her and accepted her for who she was. She was still in that state of cautiously hoping that it wasn’t a dream, probably half-expecting to wake up at any moment and find that her body still didn’t match her soul and she was sleeping in a condemned building. Seeing her having to be so cautious and hesitant about accepting what her birth family should have given her broke my heart a little.

Mom, Merriwynd, and the other ‘adults’ tried to draw her out of her shell some by drawing her little by little into the conversation. There were no questions about her past or anything that could have brought up the trauma she had obviously endured, far too many of those of us living under the roof of Pandora’s Box knew better than that. Tragic pasts were all too common among us and most of us had learned to live in the present rather than summon the shades of the past.

They started by teaching her about the Paranormal in general and their own species. They cautioned her about dealing with humans and to never let them find out what she was or what she could do, and to keep the secrets of the others living here as well. “We all care for and protect one another because that’s what a real family does,” Carmilla said at one point.

“And if we don’t, nobody will,” Nixie added.

“So, little one, what should we call your species?” Aunt Merry gently inquired. “You are the only one of your kind, so it only fair that you should choose what you will be called from today onward.”

Selina looked down at the table uncertainly. “I… umm… maybe Momma should choose since she… umm… created me?” She lifted her head to give me an imploring, hopeful look.

Ugh. I sucked at naming things, I was surprised that the poor kid didn’t hate the name that I had saddled her with. Still, I tried to think of something not too lame. With that dark blue skin and those glowing golden freckles, she kind of reminded me of the night sky. So maybe something related to astronomy or something? “How about Astrae?” I suggested weakly.

Several of the others around the tables nodded and smiled, apparently figuring out where I had gotten my inspiration. What surprised me was that everyone just kind of accepted the name with no real discussion. Selina seemed to like it as well from the way that she was smiling at me. With that, the discussion once again turned to Selina as my mother asked, “How are you feeling Selina? You look a bit uncomfortable. I can understand that you’re not used to being around so many people, but is there anything else bothering you?”

“She seems to share our aversion to clothing,” I pointed out, figuring out what Mom was getting at.

“Anything else?” Rhissa asked cautiously of the Astrae. “Any desires, strange compulsions, or things that feel strange?”

Selina looked at the Huldra in confusion for a moment before shaking her head. “Just some strange smells and tastes and stuff but… uhh… wouldn’t that make sense since my body is different now?”

“It could be your ability to sense magic starting to develop,” Dr. Diaz suggested. “There’s nothing else? No sexual desires? You resemble a Nymph a lot in your face and body for your age and Nymphs often have extremely elevated sex drives. Sorry to ask, Selina, but we need to prepare you if you do share that quirk.”

Selina blushed and quickly looked down at the table, shaking her head so rapidly that I imagined that it might fly off her shoulders if she wasn’t stopped. “No… nothing like that. Just the weird stuff with my senses and clothes being really hard to wear.”

“Seems like she dodged that bullet,” my mother said, sighing in relief.

After that, we had a brief conversation about what to do about Selina’s schooling. We were considering just homeschooling her until next year when she would be old enough to go to St. Michelle’s but I was worried about helping her keep up while I had school and possibly a job to worry about. It was quickly settled when Mom and the other dancers offered to alternate at helping her with her studies at home during the day for the next semester while I was in classes and to try to help her catch up on things she missed learning while homeless. They figured that it would give everyone some practice to prepare for doing the same thing next year when Sorcha was old enough to start homeschooling until she was ready for high school.

With breakfast finished, we started to split up to go about our daily activities. Selina was reluctant to leave my sight so Aunt Merry offered to teach her to use glamours in one of the club’s booths that were close to the stage while I started my lessons with the three Succubus sisters. Annika said that she could handle Jessica and Melody’s combat training on her own for the day and the pair followed the imposing Amazon up to the second floor and the training room.

It seemed that Lana had managed to make me some tight-fitting panties and a bikini top to exercise in and the Dicken sisters sent me off to claim them from Lana in her workshop as soon as we finished eating. Lana instructed me to put them on under my clothes and underwear so I could practice taking everything off during a performance without worrying about my modesty, not that I had any. I just shrugged and went along with it, using the backstage changing area, and then once I had even more layers of clothing on to annoy me, I headed out to the stage.

Stella immediately started teaching me a new choreography that she had come up with just for me. It was slinky, sexy, and graceful all at the same time but she was a firm taskmaster, making sure that I got each movement in a sequence just right before even showing me the next. She was a stickler for keeping my body moving just right, moving with the music rather than following it and removing pieces of clothing at just the right time in the song while making it all look natural.

It wasn’t just her either. Adora would stop me sometimes too, showing me the best way to take off a piece of clothing to make it sexy, sassy, and flirty or correcting the movements that I was learning to make my body language more teasing and sexual. She said that I had all the right assets, I just had to learn to properly flaunt them. She also had a large number of flourishes that she wanted me to casually throw in there, like shaking out my hair, pursing my lips just right, the come hither eyes, or running a finger slowly down across my lips. It wasn’t just my body that was important, every nuance about every movement or facial expression had to ooze sex appeal.

I must have danced out of my clothes and put them back on several dozen times by the time we were finished but the pair seemed happy with my progress. Luckily raw sex appeal came somewhat naturally to me and I actually caught myself doing some of those things without thinking by the end of our time. Now I was kind of worried about unthinkingly doing the come hither eyes or something sexy with my lips while out in public. Oh well, I was already a bit of a tease without meaning to be, this couldn’t make things that much worse.

When I was finished with them and we were taking a hydration break Anita told me not to bother getting dressed again since it was time to get me on the pole. I fell a few times, okay a lot of times, but it was so much fun. I was learning to move my body in amazing new ways and using muscles that I never knew I had. Hanging upside down, allowing myself to slowly slide downward, and learning to use my momentum to carry out some wicked and sexy-looking maneuvers had my heart beating wildly in my chest, and not just because of the physical exertion.

There was an art to using the pole just right, and making movements that put a hell of a lot of strain on the muscles appear casual and erotic. Sometimes it was all in the muscles and balance and sometimes momentum could literally make or break you. It was a precise art but, at the same time, it was wild and impulsive and made me feel like I was flying and so damn sexy.

Oh yeah, and we totally had to clean that pole when I was done because I was so turned on. Seriously, I could do this and get paid for it? Working at the club when I turned eighteen was starting to become more and more appealing. By the end, I was nursing bruises, a bump on the head, and friction burns in really unpleasant places, but I was beaming from ear to ear as Anita turned me over to my mom for Divine magic lessons.

Sadly, I had to put my clothes back on and leave my new favorite long and hard pole behind and get dressed when Mom came to join us. As I dressed I could hear her talking with the Succubae and the three of them were pretty animated with what they were telling her. I tried not to listen in and focus on dressing, though I did notice that Selina was very involved in her lesson with Aunt Merry. The Fey had been smart and had my new charge sitting in a chair facing away from the stage rather than in the booth where she could get distracted by watching ‘Momma’ learn to do adult things while mostly naked.

Apparently, they had gotten past the theory part, and Aunt Merry was showing Selina how to put it into practice as Mom and I took the booth beside them for my magic lesson. Selina seemed to be a little more at ease with the Fey than she was when they had started. Aunt Merry could be gruff and pretty damn scary at times but when she cared she wasn’t afraid to show it.

Much to my dismay, Mom started me off with some mental exercises to keep my thoughts focused and to picture exactly what I wanted to do in my mind when using magic. She didn’t want any more accidents and I totally agreed with her, and felt properly chagrinned about the whole Selina affair. Okay, it turned out somewhat well for Selina so far, but Mom was pretty sure that was due to my subconscious thoughts at the time and sheer dumb luck.

It didn’t work out quite as well for me, so I guess that kind of drove home the lesson. I had just joined the ranks of the Pandora’s Box single mothers and, while I was determined to do right by Selina, this was not something that I was mentally prepared for at this stage of my life. Frankly, I would rather not have any more kids to worry about. As it was, it was a good thing that I enjoyed pole dancing so much because I was going to need a job to afford to care for myself and Selina, even with room and board covered.

Thankfully, after we spent a good half of our practice time on those mental exercises Mom taught me my first healing spell. Well, I guess it wasn’t really a spell since there’s no silly hand waving or incantations, but she did teach me what I needed to focus on and picture in my mind for each injury and what to be careful to avoid doing. Thank Goddess for that, I was sore in places that I didn’t know I had places, and, trust me, friction burn on the inner thighs is a bitch. I must have used that spell twenty times with all the various injuries I had gotten while learning and practicing my probably future occupation.

Ah well, it was experience, right? And I was getting better at ‘becoming my magic’ and keeping my thoughts focused with each repetition of the spell. We even had time for her to teach me a minor illusion to make my ears look like a normie’s. Since it was just my ears the effect probably wouldn’t even be noticeable to people who could sense magic unless they were really sensitive. Goodbye beanies and hats, it was great while it lasted but I can finally move on. I will not miss having hat-hair.

It would seem that Selina had done well at her lesson as well. She had managed to create a glamour that could have been my little sister with our similar looks. I think that she may have used me as the basis for the picture of the glamour that she had created I her mind. It made sense though since she considered me her mother and our facial features were fairly similar.

She was as pale as I was with unblemished skin rather than trying to recreate her freckles and make them look normal. Her eyes were somewhere between the ice blue of mine and the turquoise of her own, though the eyes of her glamour also lacked the gold ring around the iris and the slit pupils. Her hair remained honey blonde and she even kept the turquoise streaks, which gave her a somewhat edgy look. I didn’t see her wings, which was good, but it worried me because I wouldn’t want to risk someone bumping them if they were just obscured from sight.

As we went to join the others for lunch I smiled at my sorta-daughter. “Aunt Merry wasn’t too hard on you was she? She can be stern but only because she cares.”

“No, Momma. She made me nervous at first but she… umm… taught me all kinds of stuff about the Fey and how to make myself look like a picture in my mind,” Selina said after a moment of thought.

“Well, it looks like she did a good job. If I didn’t know who you were, I would think you’re just a normal tweenage girl, if a little on the wild side. It looks like we can get you some clothes and stuff today after all. Are your wings just hidden or tucked in?”

“Both, Momma. She had me make the glamour to hide them but I… umm… figured out how to keep them folded against my back like when I’m sleeping. She had me work on that while she was teaching me the background stuff. It’s uncomfortable but I can keep them out of the way and wear regular t-shirts, jackets, and stuff if I have to.” Selina’s eyes were worried, she looked so concerned about pleasing me, and I again cursed her human family for the fear of rejection and fear of family that they had instilled in her.

I let out a sigh and on impulse reached out to hug her. “Selina, Sweetie, you worked hard and I’m proud of you for doing so well. You don’t need to put so much pressure on yourself though, you don’t need to try to be perfect for my sake. You’re allowed to be a kid and I’ll always be happy as long as you try your best at everything you do and be yourself. Right now, you’re a traumatized girl who needs a lot of love and we can all see and accept that. This is your home now and you have a family here that is ready and eager to accept you for who you are. We aren’t going to reject you. I am not going to reject you. I know that this scares you, you’re probably afraid of embracing it because you don’t want to do that and then just lose it again. That isn’t going to happen.”

Selina buried herself in my arms sniffling, “But I’m not… I… I can feel the connection between us, Momma but I… you said you’re still in high school… I wasn’t meant to…”

“Shhh,” I shushed her as I held her and stroked her hair. I didn’t have a mom of my own to learn from until recently so I really hoped that I was doing things right here. “Yes, it was an accident and I’m not even eighteen officially for a few more weeks but I feel that connection too, I have since you first looked in my eyes after I brought you into the world in your current form. I’m told that’s the definition of a mother. I’m not going to abandon you or ask you to be someone you’re not, just like I hope you’ll accept me for who I am.”

“But you’re…” she began to protest.

“I’m unprepared for this kind of thing, I’m still figuring out who I am, and I’m pretty messed up. I am not really mother material and I’m scared to hell of failing you because you don’t deserve that and I want better for you. I’m going to do my best to give you the love and everything else that you deserve but I’m probably going to make mistakes. I’ll try not to repeat them and make it right when I do fuck up but I… we have this great family here to look out for us both so we can probably manage okay.” I told her as honestly as I could as I stroked her hair and kissed her on the forehead.

“You’re doing great so far, Momma,” she said sniffling against my chest as her tears dampened my shirt.

“Let’s go get some lunch, Selina. I’m starving and after we eat we need to get ready to go shopping with your Nana Tiffani. I’m sure we’ll have lots of fun,” I told her, guiding her toward the table as I tried to be positive for both of us.