“Flagrant displays of magic I’ll cop to,” laughed Heather

“So you admit it?” asked the young man from CAIT, trying and failing to look intimidating.

Heather shrugged.  “My magic videos have millions of views, and I’ve just been featured on the local news for turning into a 500 foot mermaid.”

“Closer to 600, I think,” added Moira.

“You... what...  Oh this is terrible.”

“Why is it terrible?” asked Heather.

“Because magic is supposed to be secret!” shouted the young man, gesticulating wildly.

“Says who?”

“The whole point of the Cascadian Association of Independent Thaumaturges is to keep the secret of magic closely held.”

“So you’re here to what... shut me up?  Good luck with that Mister... I didn’t catch your name.  Who are you?”

“Paul.  Paul Graham.”

Heather reached out to shake his hand.  “Heather Marten.  Though I suppose you already knew that.  These two are my... friends, lovers, sweeties, something like that.  Moira and Flint.”

“Hey.”  “Hi.”

Paul nodded to them.  “You have a very potent team, here.”

Heather stepped back from the door to allow Paul into the house.  “Come in, let’s talk more amiably.  Yes?”

Paul smiled at that, a broad smile of relief.  “Amiable would be very good.”

“Then why’d you start off by getting in my face?” asked Heather.  She led the way to the living room.  Moira and Flint flanked Heather on the couch.

Paul took a seat in the overstuffed chair.  “To be honest, I’m in a little over my head.  My orders were to tell you to join CAIT or else.  Then I got a look at the power you wield, and...”

Heather studied him.  “You don’t have a RealityPlus, yet you read about where a level 3 with one should.  Way higher than someone without.”

“Our system is not quantized like that.  I can tell you’re a roaring bonfire next to my guttering candle.  I’ve never seen anyone with such power.  My grandfather has been studying magic all his life, and... and I should shut up now.”

“You’ve been studying magic for how long?” asked Heather.

Paul sighed.  “I’ve been an apprentice for seven years.  I bonded to my spirit animal at the equinox this year.”

“Do equinoxes and solstices matter?  We should be close to the summer one.”

“Just missed it.  You didn’t know or care...  Has everything I was taught been a lie?”

Heather shrugged.  “Someone modernized the curriculum, and you guys weren’t in the loop.  Things like... only having one spirit animal.”

“How many do you have?”

“Only the one that matters, I suppose.”  Heather gestured, and her allies list appeared.  “Cat, five different birds, three squirrels, deer, goat, butterfly for what it’s worth, and the orca.”

“You bonded with a killer whale?  That’s insane.  There are legends of people who bonded with bears, but we’re not allowed to try, it’s far too dangerous.”

“Yeah, Technicon had already blocked bears and bison and such.  Cows too, I think.  But they forgot about sea creatures.  I wonder if octopus is banned... I should check.”

“Oooh, yeah!” cheered Moira, but she settled back at a look from Heather.  “Sorry.  Go on.”

Paul rubbed the bridge of his nose, disturbing his glasses which he then had to resettle.  “Pure madness.  How long have you been training?”

“Um... if you include WitchyWays, and I’m pretty sure it counts, about eight weeks?”

Paul looked like he wanted to cry.  “Two months?  That’s it?”

“That, and a stupid, idiotic stunt that should have gotten me killed rather than blessed.  I think the orca saw something it liked in me.  It let me win.”

“And your friends, who might be smaller fires next to yours but still vastly overshadow me... they’ve been training about the same, but without the orca?”

Heather nodded slowly.  “Close enough.  It might matter that Flint had me as a familiar for a time.”

“For a time?  How is that remotely possible?  That’s not a bond you can just pick up and put down.   None of this should even remotely be possible.”

“It probably wouldn’t be, without the RealityPlus. I don’t have a clue how it works,” admitted Heather.  “but it turned the magic of a cell phone game into something real.”

“I think it’s somehow augmenting our existing power,” said Flint, pulling out his RealityPlus and setting it on the coffee table.  “I suspect Heather at least has transcended the need for it.  Giving it up might disconnect her from the game, and thus our clients.”

“Clients?”  Paul calmed himself as best he could, and gestured to the aluminum rectangle on the table.  “May I examine it?”

“Be my guest.  I haven’t been able to figure out anything about it.  Other than the pairing button, there’s no interface at all.”

Paul touched the rectangle, then immediately pulled his hand back as if burned.  “There’s a spirit-bound crystal in there.  Are you seriously so mad for power you linked your spirit to a mana crystal?  That’s suicidally dangerous.”

“Dangerous?” gasped Heather.  “Technicon never said that.  Um... thought it might have been buried deep in the license agreement.  I kinda skimmed that.  Still, something dangerous should be front and center.”

“Dangerous how?” asked Flint.

Paul looked at him as one might an addled child.  “You don’t...”  He caught the glare from Heather, wilted, and shook his head.  “Of course you don’t know.  Two months of practicing magic, but no lessons.”

“Something like that, yes,” said Heather coolly.  “I have learned that the rite of transference is not something to undertake lightly, or without supervision.”

“Rite of...”  Paul’s eyes bugged out.  “That’s not...  Seriously?  And you’re still sane?”

Heather shared a worried look with Moira.  Moira smirked at her.  “I’m pretty sure we weren’t ever all that sane to start with.  But it didn’t feel like my mind was affected.  Too much power to handle for a bit, sure, but I adapted.”

Paul dropped his head into his hands, shaking it sadly.  “Everything I’ve been taught is a lie.”

“I’m sure that’s not true,” reassured Heather.  “You have some power, and presumably some ability to do things with it.”

“My spirit animal is a sparrow.  My best spell helps me sing on key.”

Heather raised her eyebrow.  “No wings?”  She summoned up the duck-wings that had been her first experience with magical transformations.

“They don’t teach apprentices how to take on their spirit animal’s characteristics.”

“Seriously, you’re going about this all wrong.  This is basic stuff.”  Heather studied him.  “Oh, I see the problem.  You have an ally, but no glyphs.”

“Glyphs?” asked Paul confusedly.  His eyes widened when Heather summoned a glowing copy of the glyph of the sparrow.  “Oh, you mean runes of power.  They guard those jealously, my master has promised that if I work for him for another eight years he’ll teach me the Spurvous Rune... and you’re just... showing it to me.  What?”

Heather waved her hand in a showy arc, and a half-dozen runes appeared.  She pointed at the last in the sequence.  “I created that one.  It lets Moira turn into goo.”

“That’s not fair!  You’ve been at this for weeks, and...”

“I’m not the one being unfair, Paul.”

The young man sighed and bowed his head, a pose that made him look even younger.  “I am sorry to have accused you, Master.”

“Master?” asked Heather.  “Why did you say that?”

Paul seemed to droop even lower, and when Heather eyed him carefully she realized he had actually shrunk.  “Reflex.  My master does not like that particular phrase.”

“And cursed you to shrink when you do?”

“Ah... no.  That was also a reflex.”

Heather deliberately dwindled until her head was level with his, then stood and walked to stand before him, dwindling further to drop her head to his level again.  “Do not be ashamed.  Let me help you.”

“Why would you help me?  What can I possibly offer, I am already sworn to another master.”

“You know more about these crystal things than we do.  What has Technicon done to us?”

Paul sat up in the chair, drawing himself back to full height and thus towering over Heather, who was unfazed by the difference in scale.  In a lecturing tone, as if reciting a lesson, he described the normal use of mana crystals in channeling and sharing power.  “The problem is they are limited conduits without a bound spirit.  My grandfather bound a raven to a crystal, and that granted him great insight.  But to bind it to your own spirit... we have been direly warned never to try.”

“Why not?” asked Flint.

“Because anyone could use the crystal as a conduit to control you, bespell you, or worse.  It effectively means you agree to any and all magic cast upon you.”

“Ah.  That would explain how the game works, then.  There’s no consent when you lose a duel, it just lets your opponent capture or curse you no matter what you think.”

“That is terrifying.  You call this a game?”

“The game enforces limits on duration, and on what you can do.  And you do sort of consent by agreeing to a duel,” noted Heather.

“And the crystal itself is inside the case.  Protected?” asked Flint

Paul shrugged.  “If it can’t be touched, that would limit its use to an enemy.  I can only assume it’s warded.  I haven’t learned how to analyze them yet.”

Heather turned to study Flint’s RealityPlus where it was lying on the coffee table.  “There are several layers of magic on it.  It looks like the inner one is a self-destruct.  What happens if a mana crystal is broken?”

“It loses all... Oh, that is clever.  A broken crystal is powerless, so you’d be freed from it.”

Flint picked up her RealityPlus and tucked it in a pocket.  “We should put these somewhere safe, just as an extra precaution.  Is there a range limit?”

“For a spirit bond?” asked Paul incredulously.  He sighed at a narrow-eyed glare from Moira.  “Right.  No training.  No, there’s no range limit.  Keep them safe, the wards might not be as good as you think.”

“Thank you,” said Heather, nodding up to him.  “Is there anything we can do for you?”

“Promise to abide by CAIT’s rules regarding revealing magic?” asked Paul hopefully.

“I think it’s too late for that.  Years and years too late.  The existence of magic has been common knowledge for at least what... ten years?”

“And discredited to the point most people dismiss those claims.”

“Tell your bosses it’s time to adapt.  I can’t put the genie back in the bottle, we’ve been far too visible.”

“They won’t be happy.”

“What will they do if I refuse?”

Paul shrugged.  “Nothing.  If you’d sworn an oath to them, like I did to start my training, they could enforce the terms.”

“Not that I intend to swear anything, but what would that do?”

“Deny you the use of magic, mostly.  The worst sanction makes it impossible to speak.”

“That is clever.  You wouldn’t have any magic to reveal, and couldn't tell anyone about it.  You would still be able to write?”

“Yeah, but written words are the easiest to discredit.”

“Is there any lesser thing I can do to help?  A moral code like ‘no involuntary changes to others’?”

Paul’s eyes went wide and he shook his head frantically.  “Don’t ever do that.  If they have any talent at all, they can bounce the spell back at you, and the backlash makes it even stronger.”

“Thank you for that safety note.  Is there anything else I’m likely to trip over?”

“That’s the big one.  That and keeping magic secret, but...”

“Sorry.  I appeared on TV as an enormous orca-woman.  Whatever was left of your veil is well and thoroughly torn.  Do you want to see it?”

“I... sure.  Might as well know what my master will be screaming about when I get back.”

Heather’s mother had the recording all cued up, so they got to see the abbreviated interview intercut with shots of the enormous orca-woman and her windsurfing coterie.

“I’m really impressed,” said Heather’s father when it was over.  “They didn’t try to make you sound crazy, and only a little scary.  Wouldn’t have taken much.”

“Yeah, I think they played the whole interview straight through.  Just a little cleanup from when she swore.  That’s not normal?”

“Every segment where I’ve had direct knowledge, they’ve gotten it wrong, often so badly so to get things completely backward.  Either she really likes you, or really doesn’t want to piss you off.”

“Or she really wants a boob augment,” giggled Moira.  “She wants you happy so she can be sexy.”

“Ulterior motive.  That seems plausible,” agreed Heather’s father.

Heather looked over at Paul, and the poor boy looked catatonic.  She snapped her fingers at him.  “Hey.  Are you awake?”

Paul’s eyes found hers. Terror was written across his face.  “You wouldn’t have to bespell me.  You could destroy me without effort.”

“I have no intention of eating anyone.  Least of all a guest who has mostly behaved himself.”

“You could destroy everyone in CAIT with similar ease.”



Heather growled, growing a foot taller.  “I’m not going to do that either.”

Paul squeaked in terror and shrunk into his chair.  Heather sighed softly as she deflated to four feet tall to seem less threatening.  It didn't work very well, as Paul was still whimpering.

"Go home.  Tell them what you've seen.  Tell them it is time for magic to be open to all, and that their quarrel is with Technicon, not me."

Paul scrambled for the door and slammed it behind him.

"That won't be the end of this," mused Heather's father.  "I'll talk to my lawyer to see if there are any precedents or relevant laws.  Maybe keep a lower profile than that," he gestured toward the TV, and the paused image of a friendly orca-woman waving at the shore.

"That seems wise," agreed Heather.  "Is that something I could get a permit for?  It was fun, and the surfers loved it."

"I'll look into that, too."

*** *** ***

Heather and Moira appear in a corner of the video, the bulk of it taken up by the logo of their local news station.  “I’m sure many of you have already seen this clip, but it’s such fun and we got permission to use it for a reaction video, as long as CHEK6 gets to put this on their site too.  So here we go!”

The interview plays, starting with an establishing shot of the enormous orca woman, making waves in the bay.  “We did a little bit of measuring using this shot and a map.”  The video is briefly replaced by a map of the bay, with the image of the orca edited in.  A dimensioning line shows her length as 600 feet.  Next to it is an image of one of the C-class ferries that ply the local waters, and it’s only a touch longer than the orca.

“Six hundred feet,” recites Moira with an awed air.  “My sweetie is amazing.”

The video picks up again with the interview, and the two of them giggle through the limited demonstration of their abilities.  “Everyone’s about the boobs, even the women.”

When the reporter gets her own boost, Heather adds, “From what we can tell, temporary changes to people without a RealityPlus can only be done locally.  To get changes via a video consult, you need to be linked to one.”

The video pauses after Heather discusses going on a zappy rampage.  “Okay, we need to clear this up.  That wasn’t a threat, it was idle speculation.  And it’s a really bad idea to try to magic people against their will, it will come back to bite you hard.  We did a little test earlier, and Moira ended up stuck as a shoe.  Couldn’t change back until Flint released her.  It was funny as hell.”

“No it wasn’t!” groused Moira.  “You let a boy wear me.  Ew!”  She started to giggle when Flint’s voice protested from off screen.  “Okay, fine.  Being worn was actually pretty nice, better than I deserved for the crap I’ve given Flint so far.  He’s willing to be a girl at times, and despite the fact that kissing boys is icky to me, kissing him is... surprisingly nice.”

After the shapeshifting party is mentioned, they pause again.  “We haven’t got a date yet, but interest in it seems pretty high, so this is definitely going to happen.  It’s going to be fantastic.”

Heather grins a bit more ferally than usual.  “And anyone who thinks magic isn’t real, or shouldn’t be revealed to the public should show up, and see the evidence of their own eyes.”

The interview ends, and they zoom in on Heather’s hair in the final frame.  “See that little tiger stripe?  Do you recognize it from the windsurfers?  Zeke got stuck in my hair, and when I shrunk he shrunk with me.  I’m still fuzzy on how that worked, he said he just sort of ‘went with the flow’, and was clearly willing.”

As the video switches from picture-in-picture to focussing on the pair, Moira adds, “Another safety tip, and not just for those of you with a RealityPlus.  Be careful what you agree to.  There are lots of us playing the game, and some might be willing to take advantage of you.  Sure, the idea of  becoming a sorceress’ plaything might sound like fun to most of our fans, and believe me, it really can be...”

Heather grins at Moira.  “I think you’re undercutting your point.”

“Yes Mistress Sorceress,” Moira sasses back.  “Right.  It can be fun.  But it might be a lot more fun for them than for you if you get in over your head.”

“And that applies to all you players, too.  Don’t take agreements and twist them.  That will come back to bite you, even if I have to do the biting myself,” growls Heather, eyes aglow.

“Down, Heather,” says Moira.  “No bite.”

Heather sighs, and nods contritely.  “Sorry.  It is easy to let the power go to your head.  If you see this happening to you, find a partner who can reel you in when it gets bad.  As penance, I’m going to become Moira’s panties.”

A flicker of magic later, a pair of bright pink and very frilly panties are falling out of the shot.  Moira grins wickedly.  “Goodnight, and have fun.”  She picks up the panties and shows them to everyone.  “I know I’m going to.”