"How do we stop her?" I asked nervously. "Are we talking about, I don't know, disrupting her ritual? Or what about sabotaging her equipment? Or could we steal it before it reaches the camp?"

  My voice was even more wary and unsteady as I added, "You're not talking about killing her, are you?"

  Aunt Leslie looked down at the kitchen table and let out a long sigh, "I don't know how crucial her equipment is to the ritual? It might just be window dressing, part of her 'scientific research' cover story."

  "If she's figured out how to do it," mom said in a slow quiet voice, "Then even if we manage to disrupt things for her right now, she'll only try again. If not next Friday then some other time. Maybe we'll buy the world a month or two, perhaps even a whole year. But she will keep trying, and if she's figured it out then she will eventually succeed."

  My aunt nodded grimly, "She was raised for this, practically indoctrinated into it. She's been working towards this goal her entire life."

  Neither of them actually came out and said it, but they sure made it seem like there was really only one option. I didn't want to think about that though, the idea made me way too uncomfortable. Fortunately my best friend changed the subject slightly, and gave me something else to worry about instead.

  "The first challenge is actually getting there," Ellie stated as she looked up from her phone. "I mean physically travelling to Camp Hazen? You're talking about a two or three day trip, taking a bunch of charter flights into the middle of nowhere. That's almost as far north as you can actually get!"

  She added with a frown, "And it's not just about being really far or hard to access either. It's gotta be really expensive too. And you probably need to get special permits to go there?"

  Ellie looked at my mom as she asked, "Just how rich is your mother, that she can afford to put all this together?"

  Mom grimaced slightly as she shook her head, "I doubt she spent much of her own money on any of this. By making it a university research expedition she was probably able to secure funding, either from the government or through private donations."

  "So she's got the government paying her to end the world," I grumbled. "Our tax dolrs at work. That's great."

  My aunt nodded, "The U.S. government unknowingly paid for our great-grandfather's work. He performed his rituals while working in their nuclear testing program. Now our mother's going to end the world with the help of various public and private grants."

  Ellie made a face, then she adjusted her gsses before asking her next question. "So funding aside, why did your mother pick somepce so incredibly remote and impossible to reach?"

  Leslie sighed, "You've already identified one reason. It's remote enough that she won't have to worry about interlopers or interruptions. Especially of the w-enforcement variety. The only 'w' up there will be provided by the men she hired, and they answer to her."

  "There's no way to call for help either," she added. "They're bringing a satellite phone, and they'll have a shortwave radio set as a back-up. They'll be using that to keep in touch with their people at Resolute Bay. But mother will be controlling access to the sat phone, and the professor who knows how to operate the radio is loyal to mother."

  After frowning at her phone again my best friend pointed out, "Except as remote as it is, there's actually a permanent settlement not too far away? CFS Alert is a military base and weather station, and it's just over a hundred kilometres away. They even have an airstrip there."

  My aunt shook her head, "A hundred kilometres may as well be a thousand, when you don't have cars or roads. It's rough rugged mountainous terrain, and it can reach near-freezing temperatures even in the summer."

  "If anything, people stationed at Alert will end up helping mother's pn rather than hindering it," she added with a sigh. "If she manages to open a rift, the Outsiders who come through it will be hungry. She can point them towards Alert and give them their first feast. It means the Outsiders will be able to get established before the rest of the world even knows they're there."

  That left both Ellie and I with uncomfortable looks on our faces while my mom added, "In Jacob's case, he had the entire U.S. military looking over his shoulder. The public never knew what was going on, but Outsiders faced armed resistance from the moment they arrived. Not that it did much, but it was better than nothing."

  My best friend and I exchanged a worried look. Then she addressed both my mom and aunt, "What exactly are the Outsiders? I mean what kind of monsters are they? Like if we're talking about them eating people, does that mean they've got pointy teeth and cws? Or...?"

  My mom and her sister both got grim looks on their faces. Leslie shook her head slowly, "Neither Lindsay or I have ever seen one. Nor has our mother. In fact I doubt there's anyone alive today who's seen one first-hand."

  "All we have are our grandfather's stories," mom added. "According to him, Outsiders are even more varied than we are, they come in many more shapes and sizes. And yes, some do have teeth and cws. Others have tentacles. Or talons."

  My aunt continued, "One thing they all have in common is they're disturbing to look at. The way our grandfather described it was that their appearance is an affront to normal sensibilities."

  I wasn't sure I wanted to know the answer, but after hearing all that I had a question. "Do you know how they fight? Like if they have cws or tentacles or talons, I'm guessing it'd be like bears or wolves, or giant squids or -"

  "No," mom cut me off. "Do not mistake them for animals. They're much, much more dangerous than anything our world has ever known."

  Leslie nodded, "They are stronger and tougher than anything. Guns merely annoy them, like a cloud of mosquitos would annoy you. They can fight with cws or teeth, but their mere touch can cause grievous injuries. Like extreme burns or frostbite. Or worse."

  Ellie and I both shuddered at all that. I didn't even want to think about what might be worse than extreme burns, and the fact that they could cause that kind of damage just by touching someone definitely made them sound like nightmare material.

  After a deep sigh my friend asked, "So avoiding military intervention is one reason your mother chose that location. You said there's another?"

  My aunt nodded, "That's correct. I believe it's a requirement of the rituals? Something about being in a 'remote corner of the Earth'. The Marshall Isnds are very remote, that's why the Americans tested nuclear bombs there. The location our mother's chosen is just as isoted, perhaps even more so."

  I frowned, "So how are we supposed to stop her when it seems like we have no way of even getting there?"

  "She's not there yet," Ellie pointed out. "She's still in Saskatoon, right? You said she's not leaving until tomorrow morning."

  "Correct. She's probably making her st-minute preparations at the university right now. Then I expect she'll head home to pack," Leslie replied.

  My frown only got deeper, "That still doesn't help us any. Unless we're going to rush straight to the airport and fly to Saskatchewan this afternoon? Except I doubt we could afford the airfare."

  My aunt looked at me and asked, "You're a magical girl now, aren't you? And I understand the purple magical girl is around as well. Isn't this what you do? I assumed you'd have some way to get in touch with the others, and some way to get to the site."

  "According to my grandfather the magical girls just showed up out in the middle of the pacific," she added. "He assumed there was some kind of magic involved, that they were summoned or sent there. They certainly didn't fly into a restricted military test area on a commercial airpne."

  I responded with a gre, "I haven't even had the ring a full week yet. And you're the one who left it in our mailbox, so you should know it didn't come with any instructions!"

  My mom sounded a bit uptight as she asked her sister, "Is that the real reason you're here? Is that why you made sure to tell us all about mother's pns? You came here hoping Bke could contact the other magical girls, so they'd go take care of our mother for us?"

  Leslie sounded defensive as she replied, "It's not the only reason. I really did want to meet Bke and Amelia. And I wanted to warn you what our mother was up to, so you could take precautions incase she succeeds."

  Her voice shifted to a more compassionate caring tone as she continued, "I know you've stopped using magic Lindsay, but if you still remember how to do it then you might want to set up protective wards on your home. And I'd suggest making some protection amulets for your kids. Or at least for Amelia, I don't imagine Bke needs one now that she has the ring."

  "If you don't remember how or don't want to do it yourself, then I could take care of that for you," my aunt added.

  Ellie got that look on her face that she was brimming with questions again, but she managed to hold off while my mom responded.

  "Thank you for the offer Leslie," mom replied softly, "But it won't be necessary. My home has been warded all along, and I have a set of protection charms stashed away. I will make a point of getting them ready though, just in case."

  I gave my mom a surprised look as I asked her, "I thought you said you stopped using that magic years ago?"

  "I did Bke," she replied. "But I took some precautions before I quit."

  By that point my best friend couldn't hold off any longer. "Mrs. Palmer when those guys confronted us on Tuesday you put yourself in between them and the rest of us. Did you have something magical with you then, to keep us all safe?"

  Mom gnced down at her left hand then nodded, "My wedding and engagement rings. I never take them off, and they're both heavily enchanted."

  "Are you sure they're still effective?" Leslie asked with a frown. "I didn't sense any wards when I arrived, and I'm not getting anything from those rings either."

  My mom actually looked a little smug as she replied, "No offence sis, but you're not even half as good as me when it comes to the arcane arts. My enchantments are subtle, but they're powerful."

  "My wards are strong enough to keep even our mother out," mom added proudly. "They'll block anyone from entering with ill intent. They also protect against scrying, so our mother can't look in on my children and I."

  My aunt didn't seem upset by mom's comment about her not being as good with magic. She sounded a bit sad though as she pointed out, "You know that's why mother was so upset when you left, right? Not just because you were her first-born child and supposed to carry on the family legacy, but because of your talent with the dark arts. She expected you to lend your skills to her rituals."

  "I know," my mom sighed. "She used to tell me how I'd be the key that helped her unlock the door."

  Hearing that left me reeling a bit. I was having a very hard time reconciling the hard-working single mom I knew with the new image of her being some sort of dark magic protégé.

  Meanwhile Ellie had more questions for my mom, "So your mother can scry, but she can't scry in here because you have the pce warded? Then how'd she know Bke had the ring in the first pce?"

  That was a really good question, and I found myself staring at Leslie. Mom talked to her Sunday night, and Monday afternoon I got jumped by a couple of my grandmother's henchmen. Fortunately mom responded before I could question or accuse my aunt of anything.

  "When the ring or any of its sisters are used that's almost like a magical beacon," my mom expined. "Using the ring here at home probably would have been masked by my wards, but Bke said she used it at Harper's house on Saturday night."

  Aunt Leslie nodded, "That's when mother noticed, that's when she realized it was no longer safely in my possession. She'd have done some detailed scrying to figure out where it was and who had it, and that led her to you Bke."

  I sighed, "Right. So that's probably when Violet found out about it too? Or whoever sent her, I mean."

  "I take it Violet is one of the other magical girls?" my aunt asked. "The purple one, I assume?"

  "Right," my best friend nodded. "Apparently it's more like a code-name, or a call-sign maybe? They all have 'magical girl names' based on their colours."

  Leslie nodded slowly, then looked to me again. "Do you have a way of getting in touch with her, or the other magical girls? Can we ask them to help?"

  "Yeah I can send her a text," I replied as I pulled out my phone.

  "Wait how do we know this isn't a trap?" Ellie asked with a frown. "Not saying you're in on it Ms. Williams, but your mother must know that you talk with Bke's mom. What if she gave you all that information hoping you'd pass it on? Maybe she's trying to lure Bke and the other magical girls into danger?"

  My aunt shook her head, "Mother didn't volunteer her travel pns, I specifically asked for the details. Like I said, she invited me to join her, she wants me there to participate in her ritual. So I asked for the travel information. She thinks I'm going to meet her in Yellowknife, but I'm not going anywhere."

  "I believe losing the pink ring and learning that the purple magical girl is active has got mother spooked?" she added. "I think she's rushing now, she's in a hurry to get this done before anyone can try and stop her."

  "Then I better send that text," I sighed.

  My message was direct and to the point, and hopefully Violet would understand how serious the situation was. "Urgent! Judith's going to open the rift next Friday / new moon! She's going to Camp Hazen in Nunavut. We need to stop her!"

  "Done," I announced as I hit the send button. "I just hope she sees it."

  Fortunately it didn't take long to find out. Barely a minute after I'd sent the text my phone buzzed with a reply. I read it out to the others, "Thanks for the heads-up! Passing this on to the rest of the crew, I'm sure we'll be in touch ASAP."

  "Well that's good to hear," Ellie responded. She was obviously trying not to sound too excited as she added, "Do you think all the other magical girls will come here? Like maybe they'll want to meet you or something, so they can invite you to join the team?"

  That made me grimace, "No idea. I'm not even sure I want to join them? I don't want to get dragged away, I don't want to leave you and Harper, or mom and Amelia."

  "Maybe they'll just all go straight to Resolute to stop my grandmother," I added. "They probably don't need or want some rookie on the team for something like that. Saving the world doesn't seem like the kind of situation you want someone learning on the job."

  "I dunno Bke," my best friend responded with a smile. "You looked pretty damn capable when you were fighting Violet the other day. And you handled that halberd like you'd done it all your life."

  The way she was looking at me got my cheeks heating up and left me feeling a little flustered. Meanwhile my mom and my aunt seemed to share a little look, like they were both amused by something.

  "I think that's enough of the serious conversation for now," mom decided. "Bke, Ellie, I know you two had pns for today. Why don't you go try and enjoy yourselves? I'd like to spend some time catching up with my sister."

  PurpleCatGirl