After what felt like twenty-four hours of stress from when I was attacked at work on Monday until te Tuesday afternoon, things actually seemed to calm down a bit.

  Mom had to go to work that evening, but she was clear that she didn't want either Amelia or I to leave the house while she was out. Both Ellie and Harper decided to stick around for a while too, so I ended up making all four of us dinner. Eventually though my friends had to head home, so Harper gave Ellie a lift. We all stayed in touch by text though, so we knew each other was safe.

  Then Wednesday morning things seemed to be almost back to normal.

  At breakfast mom let my sister and I know that the danger had passed, which meant Amelia had to go back to school for the st day. She also told me it was safe for Ellie and Harper to return to csses and work, which was a huge relief. Mom probably would have sent me to school as well, except I'd come down with a case of suddenly becoming a cute girl and not being able to expin that to the teachers.

  As for how she knew it was safe, mom told us she'd spoken with her sister again te Tuesday night.

  Apparently the two pick-up truck guys who confronted us after our shopping trip told their boss about the pink and purple magical girls showing up and starting a fight. And from the sound of it our grandmother decided to cut her losses, so she wasn't going to send any more goons after us. At least for the time being.

  With my friends and sister all at school and mom busy with her home study course I had a boring day to myself. Then Harper and Ellie both had to work Wednesday night, same with mom. And Amelia decided to hang out with her friend Alice, which meant my evening was as boring and lonely as my day.

  I tried texting Fiona a couple times through the day, to see if she'd like to get together to talk some more. I still had plenty of questions for her about the magic rings and about being magical girls. I didn't hear back from her though, which was disappointing. It made me wonder if she'd already headed back home to the UK again, since she knew she couldn't get the pink ring from me.

  There was someone else I hadn't heard from either, not that I particurly wanted to speak with him. My boss Mr. Crawford hadn't called or texted or even emailed me about Monday, which seemed unusual. I was positive he'd have wanted to know what happened, why I left work before my shift was over, or maybe even what happened to the guy they found out back. The fact that my boss wasn't demanding answers from me left me wondering if maybe he was paid off or something, like Ellie suspected.

  So with nothing else to do and nobody avaible to hang out with I ended up spending my Wednesday cleaning out my closet and dresser, sorting all my old guy clothes into what stuff could be donated, what would just be tossed, and what I wanted to keep. Then I organized and put away all my new clothes, which cheered me up a bit.

  I hadn't actually made a conscious decision yet about whether or not I'd use the ring before Saturday, but I had a feeling that's how things would py out. Or maybe I really had made the choice already, but just hadn't reached the point where I was willing to admit it to myself.

  There was no denying that I was a lot happier and more comfortable as a girl. And the thought of returning to my original guy shape caused me dread right from the start, even before I accepted that I was trans.

  After I finished sorting out all my clothes I updated all my online accounts with my new pronouns, and I repced the generic image I'd been using as a PFP with a new selfie of my cute non-magical girl-me face. I even posted a 'coming out' message on my social media feed, so my handful of online friends would know I was a girl. And I included another picture of myself in one of the cute new tops mom got for me when we were in Owen Sound.

  And when I stopped to think about it, all that definitely made it sound like I'd already decided that I was never going back to my original shape. I still wasn't quite ready to admit it though. I told myself I'd give it some serious thought before I went to bed, but when the time came I decided it could wait till the following day.

  Now it was Thursday morning, and I had plenty of other things on my mind. School was officially over for the summer, so Ellie and I were going to meet up and hang out. We'd invited Harper too, but his folks wanted him to do some work around the farm. He was going to join us after finishing his chores, but that wouldn't be until sometime in the afternoon.

  I was dressed in a new pair of tight blue jeans and cute white and pink sneakers, I had a little white t-shirt with some pink butterflies on the chest, and a lightweight baby-blue hoodie. My purse was over my shoulder and I was all ready to go.

  "Bye mom, bye Amelia!" I said as I headed for the front door. "I don't know when I'll be back, I'll call if I'm going to be te!"

  Mom called back from the kitchen, "Bye hon! Be careful!"

  "Yeah I know," I said as I opened the door to leave, then startled slightly as I found a middle-aged woman standing right there in front of me.

  She had one hand raised as if she was just about to knock, and she looked as surprised as I felt. Only in my case, at least some of the surprise was because I recognized her. I'd never met her before, but I saw a picture of her at lunch on Tuesday.

  "You're my aunt Leslie, aren't you?" I asked warily as I stared at her.

  She looked more or less like her picture on the university website. She was a year or two younger than mom, but the family resembnce was there. Her hair was wavy and didn't quite come down to her shoulders, and she was dressed kind of casual in a loose blouse and yoga pants. She had a big navy blue faux-leather purse over one shoulder, and a simple pair of sneakers on her feet. And past her I could see a new-looking Japanese hybrid car in our driveway, behind mom's older sedan.

  Meanwhile my aunt lowered her hand as she looked me up and down, then responded with a question of her own. She sounded a little unsure of herself as she asked, "Are you Amelia?"

  "I'm Bke," I corrected her. "I guess you're here to see my mom?"

  Leslie's eyes widened in surprise when I told her my name, and I could guess she had a bunch of questions about that. She had to know I was trans, but she obviously didn't expect me to look like I did. So she didn't know about that aspect of the ring's power.

  Sure enough I saw her eyes flick down to my hands, like she was checking for the ring. She saw the bck band around my left pinkie finger, and that seemed to surprise her a little too. Like maybe she was expecting it to still be pink.

  My aunt finally got over her surprise as she replied, "Not just your mother, I'm here to see both you and your sister as well. I'd like to finally meet my nieces, if that's ok with you?"

  While it gave me a little burst of euphoria to hear her refer to me as her niece I tried not to let it cloud my judgment. After all I barely knew anything about her, and what I did know left me feeling wary.

  So I kept my eyes on her as I called over my shoulder, "Mom? Aunt Leslie is here. Should I let her in?"

  That got mom moving in a hurry. She emerged from the kitchen and dashed across the living-room to join me by the front door where she stood next to me.

  "Leslie what the hell are you doing here?!" mom demanded. "Why can't you ever keep to our agreements? You could have called or emailed or texted if you wanted to see me today, I'd have met you somewhere. Or you could have even dropped by the restaurant this evening, I'd have taken some time from work to sit down and talk with you."

  My aunt ignored everything my mom said. Instead she just smiled, although the look in her eyes was more serious.

  "Hello Lindsay," Leslie responded. "It's good to see you again too. Sorry for dropping in unannounced, but honestly I really wanted to meet with my nieces. The way things are going, I might not get another chance."

  That sent a chill up my spine, and it seemed to do the same for mom as well.

  "What's that supposed to mean?" mom asked warily.

  Leslie stated in a quiet but intense voice, "It means I'm worried that our mother's pnning to try and end the world in the next few days. And I'm terrified that she might actually pull it off."

  Mom took a deep breath and let it out in a long uneasy sigh. Then she did something I'd almost never heard her do. She swore, "Fuck. All right Leslie, come on in. I'll put the kettle on, and you can tell us what's going on."

  While my mom and aunt headed to the kitchen I stayed at the front door for another couple seconds as I tried to decide what to do. In the end I closed the door, then dug out my phone to send Ellie a text. I let her know my aunt dropped in with news about my grandmother, and invited her over so we could hang out here for now. Then I headed for the kitchen.

  I got there in time to hear mom finish the introductions between Amelia and Leslie. My little sister was just finished eating her breakfast, and she didn't seem that happy to meet a family member we hadn't even known existed until two days earlier. In the end she announced she was going to go hang out with her friends, then headed up to her room to get ready.

  There was a knock at the front door around the same time the kettle finished boiling. I figured it was Ellie so I went to answer it, and sure enough my best friend was there with an excited and curious look in her eyes.

  "Hey Bke," she greeted me. "Did I miss anything?"

  I smiled as I motioned her inside, "Nah, they're just making coffee. Sorry our pns got messed up by the way. Nobody knew Leslie was coming until she showed up on the doorstep."

  Ellie shook her head, "It's fine. Saving the world is way more important than loitering around the cafe or the community centre."

  "Yeah," I sighed as the two of us headed back to the kitchen. When we got there I did the introductions, "Leslie this is my best friend Ellie. Ellie, that's my aunt Leslie."

  My aunt looked like she was about to question why I'd invited a friend over so I told her, "Ellie and I had pns today but you interrupted them. She already knows about all this stuff, and if she wasn't here I'd just tell her everything ter on anyways. Easier to let her join us."

  "Very well," Leslie replied after a second or two.

  I grabbed cans of soda for my friend and I, while mom and her sister both had mugs of coffee. All four of us sat at the kitchen table, then my aunt took a deep breath and started telling my mom about my grandmother's pns.

  "As you may already know, our mother is leaving tomorrow for a 'scientific expedition'," Leslie began. "She invited me to join her, and that's how I got her itinerary. Accompanying our mother will be one of her fellow professors and three of her grad students, plus someone the university assigned to act as an expedition manager. He'll be overseeing the equipment and taking care of logistics. Mother's also hired a half dozen men to take care of the bags and equipment, and they'll also be handling 'security' for the voyage."

  It seemed pretty obvious what she meant but I asked anyways, "You mean henchmen, or thugs?"

  "Pretty much," my aunt agreed. "I know that the other professor is aware of mother's true pns and will be a willing participant in her rituals. I don't know what she's pnning to do with the students and the manager, but it likely won't be good."

  She paused there for a sip of her coffee before continuing, "So here's the pn, according to what our mother sent me yesterday. Starting first thing tomorrow morning, mother and the rest of her team will be boarding a standard commercial flight from Saskatoon to Yellowknife. From there they'll take a charter flight to Iqaluit. They'll meet up with a local liaison there, who might also be acting as their guide."

  My mom and I listened quietly, while Ellie pulled out her phone and opened up the maps app so she could follow along with the journey as my aunt described it.

  "Mother's already sent all their scientific equipment and camping gear directly to Iqaluit via a special air-freight service," Leslie expined. "The team will spend tomorrow night at a hotel in Iqaluit, then Saturday morning they and all their gear will be loaded onto another charter pne, which will take them to Resolute."

  "They'll be setting up a sort of 'base camp' at a hotel there, and the expedition manager will be stationed there for the duration. By staying at Resolute he'll be able to act as the expedition's contact point for communications with the outside world. The manager will also arrange deliveries of supplies and take care of other logistics."

  Mom nodded slowly, "Go on."

  My aunt continued, "The st leg of the trip is entirely dependent on the weather. They can't leave Resolute unless their route and destination are both clear. They'll be taking another charter pne to a remote airstrip near the north end of Ellesmere Isnd. Once they've nded they'll have a bit of a hike from the airstrip to Camp Hazen, where they'll set up their gear and tents."

  She paused for another sip of her coffee before concluding, "Weather permitting, they could be on site by Monday. And I suspect mother's pnning her ritual for next Friday, since that's the new moon? So she should have three or four days to prepare her ritual after they've arrived and got everything set up."

  "That's only one week from tomorrow," my mom said with a worried frown.

  "Eight days until the end of the world," aunt Leslie nodded slowly. "Unless someone stops her."

  PurpleCatGirl