Club Luna

"Happy birthday Cass!" Paige and Brooke both announced as soon as I answered the door.

I grinned, "Thanks! C'mon in, you're the first ones here. Well, apart from Nina but she lives here."

They both greeted Nina, then got comfortable while I grabbed them a couple sodas. Nina already had a glass of juice, and I had a cola I'd already started earlier.

"Have you heard anything else from Marissa or Melanie?" Paige asked once I sat down. "And uh, sorry if this is a touchy subject but is Kaylee coming too?"

I shrugged, "Melanie texted that she was going to try and make it. She wasn't sure about Marissa though. And she still wouldn't say what was going on with the two of them. As for Kaylee, nope. She won't be here."

After a sip of my drink I asked, "How are you two doing? No lasting effects I hope?"

Brooke shook her head, "Pretty sure we're both fine?"

"Yeah," Paige nodded. She was blushing though, "I can't believe they got us so easily. And none of us even noticed!"

"I noticed," Brooke corrected her. "Or at least, I suspected. I knew something was off anyways, the way we'd all started fighting with each other."

The two of them were freed from the fairy influence some time Wednesday afternoon after they left the forest, but none of us were sure if it just wore off on its own or if it was dispelled when Kaylee banished the three fairies back to where they came from.

Either way they both freaked out when they realized they'd left the two of us alone in a dangerous situation. So Brooke drove them back to the forest while Paige texted and called to see if we were ok. Which we were, sort of. Except for the whole thing where Kaylee said a lot of really awful hurtful stuff about my family and me, then got all bitchy with me for using demonic magic to save her.

We didn't exactly have another fight after the fairies were gone, but our relationship was pretty much finished after all that. Brooke and Paige knew it too, since we told them what happened after they came back and found us.

It wasn't till after I was home when I realized we never saw that fox this time. The other fairy sightings both mentioned the fox, but I didn't see it at all while we were dealing with them. I just hoped it was ok, wherever it was.

All that happened Wednesday, now it was Saturday and it was supposed to be my big birthday party. Except the only people who'd arrived so far were the two club members I actually didn't spend that much time with. And Nina of course, but I lived with her so I got to see her all the time.

Fortunately I didn't have too much time to worry about that before there was another knock at the door. I smiled as I hurried to answer it, "That must be Melanie and Marissa!"

When I opened it up I found our werewolf waiting outside, along with an unfamiliar girl I didn't recognize. From her clothes I figured she was another tomboy like Melanie, but where the wolfgirl looked tough and confident this new girl seemed shy and anxious.

She was a shorter girl like me, but her figure was a bit more rounded and curvy. Her blonde hair was cut short enough that it was almost completely hidden under an old baseball cap. And she was wearing the cap low enough that she just had to look down to hide her face behind the brim. I could see she didn't have any make-up on, and she was wearing some old faded blue-jeans that seemed a bit tight on her, and a loose t-shirt. A beat-up pair of sneakers completed the outfit.

In fact it seemed like none of her clothes really fit quite right, like she'd borrowed her whole outfit from someone else.

"Hey," the wolfgirl greeted me. She produced a big white plushie bunny from behind her back and added, "Happy birthday Cass."

I smiled, "Aww thanks Melanie! I said no gifts, but this is awesome! It's great to see you, come on in."

"Everyone else is already here," I added, "So let's go into the living-room and we can do introductions ok?"

She just nodded, but she seemed more focused on her shy friend. She slipped an arm around the blonde's waist and guided her through into the living-room while I followed.

Then before anyone else could react to the stranger Melanie brought with her Brooke suddenly asked, "Marissa? Is that you?"

My eyes widened and my stomach lurched as I realized she was right.

I'd never seen her out of her Touhou costume before. The first few times I met her she wore jeans, but they were always black. And even back then she always had ankle boots and fancy long-sleeve blouses and stuff. Plus she always had make-up on, and the last time I saw her she had long hair. She always styled it too, like in loose curls or ringlets or drills.

Marissa grimaced and her cheeks started to colour. She shook her head and replied quietly, "I'm just Cerys now. I'm not Marissa anymore, and I'm not a witch anymore either. And I probably won't be coming back to Club Luna. I'm only here because it's Cass's birthday and she's my friend."

My stomach lurched again as I looked back and forth between her and Melanie. The werewolf was quiet for now, but I knew if Marissa was leaving the club then Melanie probably would too.

"What happened?" Paige finally asked. "This isn't like you Marissa, you live for this stuff. I can't believe you'd want to quit?"

"Please don't call me that anymore," Cerys asked quietly.

I asked, "Cerys? Why don't you and Melanie sit down and get comfortable. Can I get you a drink or something?"

"Thanks Cass," she mumbled.

The two of them sat down, and I got them drinks then took my seat as well. And finally I asked, "Will you tell us what happened? We're your friends, we're worried about you. If there's anything we can do to help just ask ok?"

The young blonde rubbed her arm sort of self-consciously, and that's when I finally noticed the fading bruises and scars.

Melanie had an arm around her girlfriend's shoulders, and she gave her a reassuring squeeze. "If you're not up to it you don't have to say anything. Or you can tell them some other time. Whatever you want to do though, I'm here for you."

Cerys sighed again, then picked up her cola and had a few gulps. It took another minute or so before she was finally ready to tell us what happened.

"So you all probably noticed I never talked much, or at all, about my family?" she asked softly. "That's because stuff at home really sucked, and I did my best to keep it hidden away. Like if I kept that behind closed doors then it didn't exist out here."

After another quiet sigh she pushed ahead, "My dad got hurt on the job a few years ago, just before I started high school. It was bad but he pulled through, mostly. He went on long term disability, they said he'd never work again. He got an insurance payout plus monthly disability benefits and all that. And my mom got a decent job, so we were doing ok for money. Except with nothing to do all day long but be bitter, my dad took up drinking to pass the time."

Cerys paused again, and Melanie gave her another reassuring hug.

"Meanwhile mom got paranoid that if I started working I'd get hurt too," our friend continued quietly, "So she wouldn't let me get a job. She gave me an allowance to cover more or less what I might have earned working part time somewhere? It sucked though, I wanted to get some job experience. And a job was also a good excuse to be out of the house. Meanwhile dad was pissed off that some of his booze-money kept ending up in my pocket thanks to mom. I mentioned dad was bitter right? He was that kind of drunk. Bitter, angry, and sometimes violent."

She stopped again and sighed once more, then braced herself as she got to the next part of the story. "This is where it gets bad. About eighteen months ago dad started getting more violent when he got drunk. He'd take things out on mom, or on me. So I got into the habit of using sleep spells on him when no-one was looking. He'd think he got drunk and passed out, nobody got hurt, it seemed like a good solution. Neither of my parents knew anything about me being a witch, they never knew anything about Club Luna either. All mom knew was dad would get drunk, then get loud, then he'd start throwing stuff, then he'd pass out."

Her expression became a little more angry as she added, "Even worse, mom refused to do anything about it. She'd look the other way, make excuses for him, and pretend it wasn't a problem and that dad didn't need help. Even when he got violent, mom refused to do anything. She wouldn't let me do anything either, which is why I started spending so much time at Melanie's place."

Cerys paused again as the anger faded and sadness returned. She took a deep breath then told us the worst part of the story, "Last Thursday, the night before our club meeting, it all fell apart. I got home after hanging out with Melanie, and found dad in my bedroom. He was drunk again, and he was ranting about burning all my witch clothes and my Touhou stuff. I think... Somehow he figured out I was a real witch. And I couldn't use a sleep spell on him because mom was there too, yelling at him to calm down. Then he started smashing my stuff, so I tried to get them both out of my room. And um. That's when he hit me..."

Her voice trailed off and Melanie pulled her into another hug, while the rest of us all stayed completely silent.

It took another minute or so, then Cerys gestured at her baseball cap. "My dad smashed a bottle of vodka over my head. I don't know how long I was unconscious, but when I finally woke up I saw he'd beaten up my mom as well. He was out in the backyard burning all my stuff, just like he said. I found mom's phone and called 911, then I guess I passed out again. Next time I woke up it was Friday afternoon and I was in the hospital."

She paused for a few gulps of her cola before continuing, "My head was split open from the bottle. They had to shave off a bunch of my hair to clean the wound and get all the glass out, then stapled my scalp back together. They kept me in hospital till Tuesday, then turned me over to my aunt and uncle. I think they're supposed to be my legal guardians now, since dad's in jail facing a bunch of charges and mom's not fit to look after me. She got out of the hospital a few days ago too, but she's got a cast and stitches and stuff. Anyways, I'm staying at Melanie's place for now."

The wolfgirl chimed in, "I got worried when she didn't respond to my texts the day of the club meeting. I went by her place as soon as I got off work, and found a couple cops there doing crime scene stuff. One of them told me she was in hospital so I ran straight there. I was pretty much with her the whole time after that. She didn't want me to tell anyone what happened though, which is why we didn't answer most of your messages and stuff."

"I'm sorry," Cerys mumbled. "I just didn't want everyone to see me like that. Like this. I didn't want all the sympathy, didn't want people to make a fuss over me..."

Melanie pulled her girlfriend into a tighter hug, but Cerys turned and looked towards my little sister. She gave the small demon a weak smile and said, "Thanks for keeping the nightmares away Nina. I've actually been sleeping better the last few nights."

"You're welcome Cerys," Nina replied quietly. "I'm sorry I couldn't do more."

The rest of us were all still quiet, and from the looks on Paige's and Brooke's faces I could tell they were feeling equal parts shocked and guilty, that they never knew any of this was going on with our friend.

I finally got up out of my seat and moved over to where Cerys and Melanie were sitting. I leaned over and hugged Cerys as I told her, "I'm so sorry you went through all that. I wish there was something I could have done to help."

"Thanks Cass," she whispered as she hugged me back. "I'm sorry I messed up your birthday. I didn't mean to ruin the party with my crummy family stuff. And um, sorry about the Kaylee stuff too. Are you doing ok?"

I shook my head, "You haven't ruined anything. And the other thing... I'll be fine. Anyways I'm glad you're here, both you and Melanie."

"We're going to order Chinese food," I added as I finally let go of her and took a few steps back. "And if folks are up for it we got a new game console we could set up. Maybe do another video game tournament?"

"You got a console for your birthday?" Melanie asked with a grin. "I didn't think you were that much into gaming."

I smiled, "It's mostly for Nina, but she said she'd teach me a couple tricks."

That put a blush on the small demon's face, and she busied herself by having a gulp of her juice.

Meanwhile Paige raised an eyebrow as she looked at me, "So it's your birthday, but your little sister got the present?"

"Sure, why not?" I shrugged. Then I grinned, "It's honestly kind of hard to say who got the better gifts? This past year I got a little sister and a bunch of friends, while she got a video game and a family. I think we both did pretty well."

The grateful look on Nina's face when she heard that made me really happy, while my friends all smiled. After that the mood lightened up a bit, and we all figured out what everyone wanted from the Chinese food place.

I put the order in, then Melanie started setting up the new game console while Nina sat with Cerys and kept her company. Brooke and Paige looked at the two games we got with the console, to try and decide which one we should try first.

After another minute or so Melanie announced, "Ok we're all set here! What game are we playing, and who gets to go first?"

"Cass and Nina should get first dibs obviously," Paige stated. "It's their gear after all, and apparently we're celebrating for both of them."

The wolfgirl grinned, "Sounds good to me! Get on over here you two, show us what you got!"

Me and Nina both smiled as we sat in front of the big TV with our controllers and booted up the first game.

~ End of Episode Seven ~