Tuesday morning I woke up to find myself in Harper's bed, still cuddled up in between my boyfriend and girlfriend. And I was smiling happily as I basked in a lot of warm fuzzy feelings. Thinking about the night before filled me with even more happy thoughts, I was sure it'd take days for my smile to fade.

  Unfortunately it was only a few minutes ter when the morning cuddles came to an end. Harper's phone started buzzing, and my tall handsome boyfriend grumbled softly as he woke up.

  "Right," he sighed, "I have to work today."

  Ellie pouted, "Same."

  "I guess it'd be a bad idea to call in sick or something?" the cute tomboy added hopefully.

  Harper smiled as he sat up and stretched, "Yeah probably. Even if it's tempting."

  I sighed as I sat up too, "I'm going to have to start looking for work. Kind of te to find a summer job though, especially something I can get to on foot."

  "If you like I can ask at the hardware store?" my boyfriend asked.

  "Thanks," I smiled. "That'd be great."

  Ellie offered, "I'll check at my work too. I doubt they have anything, but it never hurts to ask."

  I thanked her as well, then we all took turns in the washroom before getting dressed and everything. We had enough time for breakfast so me and Harper fixed up some food for the three of us.

  As we ate he offered, "Bke I'll drop you off at home first, then Ellie I can drop you at the body shop before I head into the store."

  "Thanks," I smiled.

  "Thanks Harper," Ellie added.

  We all helped tidy up and everything after breakfast, then the three of us headed out to Harper's truck. We spent the short ride back to my pce making pns for our next date, but all that was forgotten as soon as we pulled up in front of my house.

  There was somebody standing in the driveway, and even though I'd never seen them before something told me they were waiting for me.

  The figure seemed tall and slim, almost willowy, dressed in long flowing sunshine-yellow robes. Their pale blonde hair was equally long and flowing, hanging at least halfway down their back. Their face looked smooth and their skin appeared soft, without any trace of facial hair, but something told me the stranger wasn't a woman. I didn't think they were a man either, it was more like they just sort of radiated non-binary or agender energy.

  As soon as we pulled up their eyes were on me, and that gave me some vaguely creepy vibes. Maybe because their eyes appeared to be a yellowy amber colour, like you'd see on a wolf rather than a normal person. Logically I knew they could have been wearing colour contacts, but something told me that wasn't the case.

  "I think they're here for me," I said softly.

  "Yeah," Harper responded just as quietly. "I think I'm going to come with you though. If you don't mind."

  "Me too," Ellie added.

  I nodded, and all three of us emerged from the pick-up. With my friends standing to either side of me, I approached the stranger to within a couple paces. I was about to ask what they wanted, but they cut me off just as I opened my mouth.

  "So," they stated in a voice that was just as androgynous as their appearance, "You are the new Rosa."

  I had no idea how to respond to that, and after a quick gnce at my friends I could tell they weren't sure what to make of the situation either. All three of us were wary though, like while the person didn't seem threatening as such I also wasn't sure if they were friendly.

  "What do you -" I started to ask, but they cut me off again.

  "Your colleagues need you Rosa," they announced. "The five of you are meant to work as a team, and without you that team is incomplete."

  "You want me to go up north?" I asked nervously.

  The stranger shook their head, "What I want is irrelevant. The others need you."

  "They didn't exactly seem eager to have Bke accompany them," Ellie pointed out. "What if they don't want her joining them?"

  "Wants are irrelevant," they repeated. "You are needed."

  I took a deep breath, then shook my head as I sighed. "Even if I agreed, there's no way I can get there. I don't have the money, I can't afford pne tickets or anything else. And I don't have valid ID anymore, so I couldn't get on a pne anyways."

  Without a word they held out their hand towards me, offering me a thick off-white envelope. Suddenly my heart was racing as I accepted it. I carefully opened it and had a look inside, then gulped.

  "It's ID," I told my friends. "And money. And something that looks like confirmations for pne tickets."

  Harper gnced down at the open envelope then his eyes widened, "Woah."

  I looked up at the strange person again and shook my head, "I still don't want to go. I don't want to leave my friends behind."

  "Your friends are also needed," the golden figure responded as they produced two more thick envelopes out of nowhere, then held them out for Harper and Ellie to take.

  My friends warily accepted the envelopes, but they didn't open them right away. My girlfriend narrowed her eyes in suspicion and asked, "What do you mean we're needed? What can either me or Harper do, how can we help a group of super-powered magical girls?"

  The stranger stared at Ellie for a couple seconds then responded cryptically, "Trust the raven."

  I had no idea what that meant, but before I could ask they'd already focused their attention on Harper.

  "What you do after the touch-down is more important than what leads you to it," they told the handsome jock.

  That sounded vaguely like a football thing, but apart from that I didn't understand it any more than what they told Ellie. What surprised me was the expressions on my friends' faces. They both looked surprised yet thoughtful, like maybe that cryptic stuff meant something to them after all.

  I turned my attention back to our mysterious androgynous guest and I asked, "Who are you?"

  Their lips almost seemed like they wanted to smile for a moment. Then they tilted their head slightly as if they found the question curious rather than amusing. Finally they responded, "You may call me Cel."

  "Ok Cel," I replied. "Um, do you talk to the other magical girls too? You're the one who sent them here, you told them to take me with you?"

  They nodded once, "I provide them with instruction, information, and guidance."

  "And I occasionally provide for them in other ways as well," they added as they gestured towards the envelopes my friends and I were all holding.

  Ellie's eyes suddenly widened and she excimed, "Wait a sec! Cel, as in Celestial? Is that what you are, you're a celestial being?"

  The slightly amused look vanished from Cel's face immediately, as they became more aloof again. "My purpose here has been accomplished."

  "What do -" I started to ask, but I cut myself off as our strange visitor simply vanished into thin air.

  "Woah," Harper gasped.

  Ellie looked somewhere between excited amazed and maybe even a little scared. She gnced at me and Harper, "Maybe they think 'celestial' is a dirty word? Or maybe I'm right, but they weren't happy about me guessing that?"

  "I don't know," I said as I slowly shook my head. Then I frowned, "So did you two understand that stuff they said? Like about the raven, and the touch-down?"

  Harper nodded, "That actually freaked me out. Like how did they even know about that stuff?"

  "What did it mean?" I asked.

  He expined, "That's the kind of stuff my coach said when he demoted me from captain. After Ashley outed me Mr. Webster gave me this stupid speech, about how pyers' conduct off the field was just as important as what we did during a game? As if being queer was something to be ashamed of."

  I frowned, "That sucks. And it's definitely creepy that Cel knew about it. I don't understand how that's supposed to make you want to drop everything and go up north though?"

  Harper looked thoughtful as he said, "I think... My guess is they were trying to tell me, it's not enough to just be there for my friends when it's convenient or expected? I need to be there whenever I'm needed. And it sounds like you're going to need me, if you go up north."

  I continued to frown as I thought that through. It still didn't make sense to me, but I decided it didn't have to. After all the message wasn't for me, so it didn't matter if I understood it or not.

  "How about you Ellie?" Harper asked. "What did that thing about the raven mean?"

  The cute tomboy was staring at her envelope with a thoughtful look on her face. She sounded a little freaked out as she replied, "I've been listening to a new metal album tely? My favourite song on there's called 'The Raven'. It's basically about taking risks and grabbing life by the balls, that pying it safe only leads to regrets and missed opportunities. Sometimes you get hurt, but you can't win if you never take a chance."

  "It seems pretty clear," she hesitated slightly. Then she nodded, "Trust the raven. Take the offer and go for it. A group of magical girls are going to save the world, and this is my chance to be a part of that."

  Ellie looked at me and nodded once more, "So hell yes I'm in."

  "Me too," Harper stated.

  My girlfriend tore open her envelope and pulled out the contents, then grimaced. "Ok so we don't actually have a lot of time. Our flight leaves Toronto Pearson Airport at four this afternoon."

  "What?" I gasped as I dug through my envelope to check the flight info.

  Harper looked at his too then his eyebrows shot up as he said, "Holy cow! First css?!"

  "I guess magical girls travel in style," Ellie commented. "And speaking of travel, I guess this means I need to call in sick from work after all. Not sure they'll be happy, but at least saving the world from evil monsters is a good excuse."

  My boyfriend frowned, "Good point. I guess we're both going to be missing a few days of work. Or a few weeks, depending on how long this takes."

  "I don't think we need to worry about the missed wages though," he added as he pulled out the wad of cash that was in his envelope. His eyes widened, "This looks like more than I'd make all summer."

  "You're right," Ellie said as she started flipping through the stack of twenties and fifties she'd received.

  "Yeah," I agreed as I looked at the contents of my envelope again.

  Then I suggested, "Instead of standing around on the driveway looking at all this money, we should probably be thinking about packing and stuff, right?"

  My girlfriend nodded as she stuffed her envelope into her bag, "Good point. So if we're taking off at four PM we'll probably need to be at the airport by half past two?"

  "That's at least an hour's drive from here," Harper said. "Maybe closer to ninety minutes? So we'll want to leave by one."

  I suggested, "We should leave sooner. We'll probably want to stop and buy some supplies and stuff on the way, right? Like we're going to be in the middle of nowhere, and I don't know much about camping but I assume we'll want sleeping bags and a tent or something? Food? All that stuff?"

  "Crap you're right," Ellie grimaced. "So we really need to pack some clothes and stuff right now, tell our parents we're going camping or something, then hit the road."

  Just like that I had butterflies in my stomach as it all suddenly became real. Like in a couple minutes I was going to have to tell my mom that I'd be leaving this afternoon for the far north and I had no idea when I'd be coming back.

  Then my gut lurched as the next revetion hit me. Odds were I'd have to confront my grandmother, I wouldn't be able to hide behind the other magical girls. We'd all be doing our best to stop her and save the world. And I still didn't like to think about what that actually meant. I just hoped it wouldn't be me that had to do it. Like maybe Anahera would handle that, since she seemed to be in charge.

  After a deep breath I said, "Ok. I guess we're all going to be busy for the next couple hours. What's the pn?"

  Harper said, "It's quarter past nine now. Can you two be ready by eleven? We'll head down into the city and do some shopping, for camping supplies and stuff. Then get to the airport for two. I assume there's somewhere I can park the truck there, then we board a pne and..."

  Ellie spoke up after Harper's voice trailed off, "There's long-term parking. It's probably not cheap, but our mysterious benefactor gave us enough cash to take care of that. And all our camping gear too."

  "Yeah," I nodded slowly. "So that's basically an hour and a half to talk to our families, and to pack clothes. And you two need to deal with work too."

  My girlfriend agreed, "Right. So Harper, you and I should get going right now. If you could drop me off at home that'd be great."

  "Of course. Bke, we'll be back here around eleven to pick you up. See you then," he said as he turned and headed for his pick-up.

  Ellie gave me a quick hug before she hurried off after Harper. I waved and watched them both go, then took another deep breath before finally heading into the house. My mom was in the kitchen sipping a coffee while she worked on her ptop again, but she closed the lid when I sat down in the chair next to her.

  "What's wrong hon?" she asked. "You look like you've got something serious on your mind."

  I nodded slowly, "Yeah. There's something I have to tell you, but I don't have a lot of time. It looks like I'm going up north after all, and my flight leaves this afternoon..."

  PurpleCatGirl