Between the te night, waking up at three AM to help Ellie, and the fact that none of us had to work, all three of us managed to sleep in nice and te Saturday morning. In fact it was just past eleven when we all finally dragged ourselves out of bed.

  And since we had the house to ourselves, nobody bothered getting dressed right away either. All Harper had on was a pair of boxers, while Ellie was in a gothy bck nightie and I wore a flowery pink nightshirt. We padded barefoot down the stairs together, then our boyfriend let Ellie and I take turns in the washroom before using it himself.

  A few minutes ter the three of us were sitting around the kitchen table sipping orange juice when Harper asked, "Who's up for some breakfast? There's bacon and eggs, and bread for toast. Or we've got pancake mix, if you girls want that instead? And I think there's some breakfast sausages in the freezer, I could thaw those out in the microwave if you don't want bacon."

  "Ooh I'd love some pancakes!" I smiled.

  "And bacon?" Ellie asked with a hopeful grin.

  Harper nodded as he got up out of his chair, "Sounds good to me. I'll take care of it, you two just rex."

  Our girlfriend teased, "Sounds like a plot. You're going to guilt us into doing the dishes afterwards, aren't you?"

  "Nah I'm just pying host," the handsome jock ughed as he started getting the pans and things out of the cupboards.

  While he and Ellie continued to joke and tease each other I ended up getting my phone. Then I spent the next couple minutes composing a long message for Anahera, where I described Ellie's concerns about the rift, the possibility of some Outsiders sneaking away underwater, and raised the question of whether or not Judith may have had more accomplices who weren't with her at Camp Hazen.

  I reminded her that I knew Cel was the group's seer, so I asked if Anahera could forward my questions on to them. Or if she could put me in touch with them directly. It felt weird saying it, knowing that Cel is probably some kind of celestial being, but I asked if there was a phone number or contact info for them that I could use.

  I didn't say anything about my girlfriend's nightmares though. For one thing I knew that was private and personal information. Instead I made it sound like these were some legitimate concerns Ellie had discussed with me, things I was unable to answer myself. Which was basically the truth, I didn't have good firm answers for any of those things. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized they really were good serious questions that needed to be answered.

  When I was done I gave the message a quick read to ensure it sounded good, then sent it off. I had no idea when I'd hear back from her, but I doubted it'd be any time soon. For one thing there was the time difference, despite being almost noon for me it was probably the middle of the night in New Zeand. And assuming Anahera took my message seriously, she might need to consult with Cel before she could answer any of those questions. So I figured it might be a day or two before I heard anything back.

  Before putting my phone away I decided to text my mom as well. I knew she wouldn't have answers about the rift or the Outsiders, but I figured she might be able to tell me whether or not Judith would have had more people working with her. Even if she didn't know exact numbers, I figured odds were she'd at least be able to say if her mother was likely to have shared any of that information with more than the one guy who was assisting her up north.

  That message didn't take as much time to write, then after sending it to mom I finally put my phone aside. Harper was still working on breakfast, but he already had a couple pancakes done and sitting on a pte over the warming element on the stove. And Ellie was watching me.

  "Who were you texting?" my girlfriend asked. She added in a teasing tone, "It looked like you were writing a book there Bke, the way you were going at it."

  I blushed slightly, "Sorry! I didn't mean to ignore you two. I had some questions for the other magical girls, and ended up writing a long message to Lily. Then I texted my mom as well, there was something I wanted to ask her too."

  Ellie continued watching me for another second or two before asking, "Was it because of my nightmares?"

  "Not exactly," I shook my head. "I didn't mention anything about that to anyone. But you did raise some good points st night Ellie. That's what I wanted to ask the others about. Like if it was possible we missed some Outsiders, and about the rift being sealed. And if they had any way of knowing if other people out there are using dark magic."

  "What about your mom? Same thing?" the cute tomboy asked.

  I shrugged, "She wouldn't know about the rift or escaped Outsiders, but I asked if she knew whether or not Judith might have had more accomplices. My mom might not know, since she hasn't been part of that stuff for more than twenty years now. But I figured it couldn't hurt to ask."

  My girlfriend nodded slowly, "Alright. Thanks Bke. I'm gd you're taking this stuff seriously, and not just trying to dismiss it or tell me not to worry about it."

  "I'd never do that," I replied as I reached out and put my hand on hers. "I'd never just dismiss you Ellie. And like I said, you had some really good questions st night. I think we need those answers, so we can all rest a little easier."

  Harper agreed as he brought over two big ptes of food, "You're right Bke. Ellie made some good points st night, and I'm gd you're looking for answers."

  "There we go," he added as he set the ptes down on the table in front of us. One had at least a half dozen big pancakes stacked up on it, while the other had a huge pile of bacon all fried up.

  He joined us a moment ter, after grabbing a bottle of syrup and setting that on the table too. We let Ellie go first, she took a couple pancakes and a few pieces of bacon. Then while she was pouring maple syrup over the whole thing I took two pancakes and three strips of bacon as well. And finally Harper grabbed the st three pancakes and a good-sized pile of bacon.

  Then while I was decorating my pancakes with the sticky sweet maple goodness Harper commented, "I've been thinking about the therapy question. You're right Ellie about the challenges you'd face, trying to convince someone what the real issues are. I know this might not be a great solution, but I was wondering if maybe some self-help resources might work instead?"

  "I know it might sound silly or maybe it seems like a waste of money," he added before our girlfriend could protest, "But there's books out there specifically written to help people who can't or won't do therapy. And I know there's stuff on the internet too, like maybe we could find some resources online to point us in the right direction before we start spending money on books and stuff."

  Ellie stared quietly at Harper for the next few seconds, as she munched on a mouthful of sweet syrupy bacon. Then after gulping it down she finally asked in a level voice, "What do you mean, 'we'? You and Bke made it pretty clear st night that neither of you are having nightmares."

  "I said 'we' because I want to help you. And I'm sure Bke feels the same," he replied. "And for that matter, nightmares or not both Bke and I could probably benefit from the same sort of thing. All three of us are dealing with stuff Ellie, even if we're not dealing with it the same exact way."

  I nodded, "Harper's right. I'll do whatever I can to help you. And that's actually a good idea. Like the three of us went through all that together, right? So maybe it'd be better if we all helped each other deal with it."

  "I wasn't going to say anything," I added with a little grimace, "But it crossed my mind earlier that maybe group therapy would -"

  That's as far as I got before my phone started ringing. A quick gnce at the screen told me it was my mom, and I had a feeling she wouldn't be calling unless it was something serious. After all, she knew I was having a special weekend with my girlfriend and boyfriend.

  So after apologizing to my friends I swiped the screen then answered, "Hi mom. What's going on?"

  "I just saw your text," she responded, and she sounded nervous. "What's happened? What have you heard? Did the other magical girls contact you? Do you have to rush off to Saskatoon? Or are you going somewhere else?"

  Between her tone and the barrage of questions I was suddenly feeling anxious again myself. I gulped, "Mom nothing's happened. Or at least, I haven't heard of anything happening. Unless you know something I don't? What's going on mom, why do you sound so worried?"

  My mom let out a long sigh, then she was quiet for a second or two before she finally responded. "I'm sorry Bke. I wasn't going to say anything until I had more information, but when I saw your text I feared the worst."

  "Weren't going to say anything about what?" I asked as my tone got a little harder. I frowned as I continued, "This whole keeping secrets thing is getting kind of old, mom. So please just tell me what's got you so uptight?"

  She sighed again, "Alright hon. You know my sister went out to Saskatoon st week, to tend to our mother's estate?"

  "Yeah," I nodded. "So what happened? Is Leslie ok?"

  Mom replied, "She's fine. Your aunt Leslie can take care of herself. The problem is, when she got to our mother's home she found the pce had recently been burgled. According to my sister, whoever broke in left a lot of obvious and easy to sell valuables behind. Instead it seemed like they were focused on the more esoteric items in mother's collection."

  "Someone stole Judith's occult stuff?" I asked bluntly. "Is that what you're saying? When, do you know how long the stuff's been missing?"

  "Yes Bke," my mom sighed. "Leslie said it looked like the theft happened not long before she arrived? Perhaps around the sixteenth to the nineteenth of July. My sister's looking into it, she's been scrying to try and track down the thief and the stolen goods."

  That was the st thing I needed to hear. I was frowning again as I asked, "What did they take? Do you know?"

  Mom replied, "I don't have a comprehensive list if that's what you're asking. I understand the missing items include some enchanted objects, some magical trophies, and a ptop."

  "Great," I sighed. "I'll have to pass that on to the rest of the team. They might have ways of locating that stuff too, now that it's not hidden inside Judith's wards."

  My mom apologized, "I'm sorry Bke. Please stay safe. I hope this hasn't upset the weekend for you and your friends."

  "Thanks mom. We'll be fine. Tell Amelia I said hi, and I'll see you both tomorrow," I responded, before ending the call.

  By that point both Harper and Ellie were watching me with worried expectant looks on their faces. I wasn't sure how much of my mom's side of the conversation they heard, but they'd have heard enough from my side to know there was a problem.

  "Sounds like more bad news?" my girlfriend spoke up first.

  "We probably got most of that," my boyfriend added, "But maybe you could fill us in on the details?"

  I sighed, "Yeah. It's not great. Let's not let the food get cold though, ok? Not after all the work Harper put into making it."

  All three of us continued eating, but between mouthfuls I told them everything my mom just told me. Then when I was done I added, "Now I'd better send another text to Anahera. Or maybe I should send it to the whole group? This feels a little more urgent than just a simple request for information."

  "Yeah," Ellie nodded in agreement.

  I picked up my phone again, then while I started composing a message to the other magical girls our boyfriend spoke up once more.

  "Today's the twenty-seventh," he pointed out. "If the theft happened around the sixteenth, that's eleven days that the thief has had their hands on some potentially dangerous occult stuff."

  That left our girlfriend looking uneasy again. She frowned, "So odds are I was right? There's at least one more person out there who knows about Judith's dark magic. And now they have some of her enchanted tools, and her ptop. So potentially they have all her notes and everything else she'd recorded or copied on there."

  I sighed, "Maybe. Hopefully they won't know what to do with it, hopefully the ptop's protected with some good secure passwords. Maybe magic too, she could have warded it to prevent unauthorized access."

  "You'd think her whole house would be warded," Harper stated. "I mean, if she had that kind of power then why wouldn't she protect her stuff against theft?"

  Ellie and I looked at each other, then the cute tomboy sighed. "Maybe she did, but maybe the thief knew about it, and how to circumvent it. So they're probably one of her accomplices, right? They knew exactly what to take, and how to get it."

  I grimaced as I added those observations to my text message. Then after hitting 'send' I said, "There. I've sent all that off to the magical girls. They'll know what to do. Hopefully we'll hear back from them soon enough."

  "Yeah," my girlfriend frowned. "I hope so too."

  PurpleCatGirl