Ashley Price, Investigative Spooky Girl

"You're sure it isn't a teacher at school?" Isabelle asks worriedly as she closes the door to her car. "Or another student or something?"

"I mean, I guess I'm not sure,"--You're pretty sure--"But remember the sigils we already put down?" Isabelle nods thoughtfully at that; you'd all seen the way that both the ward in the library as well as the one you'd earlier placed on your locker had widely expanded, Mr. York and Ms. Hayden's gleeful copulation extending your zone of protection to cover almost a third of the school. "Whomever's contacting us has definitely been at this longer than we have. So if it was a teacher something, don't you think they'd have already put the school under their influence?"

Jenny seems to agree. "Right. So it must have been something else that singled us out."

"Exactly." You sweep your arm out, indicating the Bad Starbucks. "So this is the most likely culprit."

You certainly hope so, at least. Because if it isn't, the only other possibility is that someone's been in either your or Jenny's house. And that would be such a disaster that you don't even want to consider it yet. Though it doesn't really look like anything is amiss? You'd sort of hoped that as soon as you stepped into the coffee shop you'd magically claimed, some big warning message would pop up about how you'd gotten some supernatural malware or something. But no, it's the same old deserted place you left it the night before. Sydney calls out a happy greeting as she spots the three of you through the doorway, waving to you with such excitement that she very nearly wobbles out of the tubetop she's filled to bursting. "Omigod, hi guys!" She actually does spill out of her top when she bounces over, sticking out her tongue in pleased embarrassment as she stuffs her fat rack back into the straining garment. "Whoopsie, still getting used to the girls. What's up?"

"Did anything weird happen today? Like, anything magical? Or whatever?"

Sydney considers that for a moment. "Umm, not really? Nothing at all really happened today." The bubbly girl's eyes light up. "Oh! I called the guitarist from Rainbow Connick, Jr and gave him a blowie during my lunch break! That was super magical, guys, because he has the goddamn yummiest cock."

Jenny cocks an eyebrow, mouthing 'Rainbow Connick, Jr' to you, at which you can only shrug helplessly. She throws her hair back over her shoulder with a 'tsk' before giving Sydney an imperious look. "Not what we had in mind, Sydney. Did seriously no one come by today?"

The girl hums, though you tell she's still distracted by the thought of musician dick. "No, but welll, my lunch break did run sorta long, because I went a bit overboard and kinda sucked him hard again after he'd already cum? And my pussy was going crazy so I figured hey, treat yourself, right? So I got on top and started-"

Isabelle cuts her off, looking almost more annoyed than embarrassed. Almost. "We don't need the details! Jesus. If you were gone so long, who was watching the store?"

"Oh, Riot was! She's, like, the best!" Sydney turns around and waves back towards the back of the store, one of her huge breasts merrily popping out again. "Hey Riot~!"

Wait, there's another employee here? You understand that a business can't just have one employee, but the Bad Starbucks is less of a business and more of a mausoleum for cups and stale scones. Still, you can't help being surprised when another girl pokes her head out of storage, yawning irritably before grumbling something that might have been a response. She's got strong features, proud nosed and full lipped, that combined with her dark sullen gaze, excess of dark eye makeup and buzzed head give the distinct impression of a girl who'd just as soon not be bothered with anything, let alone customers. She yawns again as she shuffles over, scratching drowsily under her oversized black sweater as she gives the four of you a moderate dose of stink-eye. "I was sleeping."

Jenny raises her eyebrows. "What? You guys are open, aren't you?"

Riot levels a flat look at the Asian girl. "Even when we're open, we're basically closed. What is it?"

Well, she isn't wrong. You might as well see if she can help out. "Did anyone come in while Sydney was on break?"

The gloomy barista gives a noise of irritation. "Yeah. This one lady. Real pain in my ass."

"How so?"

"She comes in and says she wants a Peppermint Mocha. So fine, whatever. But she keeps insisting she wants the seasonal Peppermint Mocha. I tell her its the same thing, but she's not having that shit. I make it, and she keeps insisting it's not right somehow. I had to make it three more times before she finally demanded to see the manager. Well, seein' as the manager was busy getting blasted at the time--"

Jenny's eyebrows all but burst off of her head. "Sydney is the manager?"

Riot gives a blasé shrug before continuing on. "--I told her she was busy. So she snatched up the District Manager's number and called her instead. That's it."

You lean in. "That's it? Nothing happened?"

"Yeah. Literally nothing. I mean, I was pretty sure I was getting fired or whatever. The Soccer Mom was pretty strong with that one. But it was weird, after she told the the District Manager which Starbucks she was at, she got this weird look on her face and then just hung up and left."

Okay. That sounds like a bullseye, then. "What did she look like?"

"She--" Riot trails off, a curious look clouding her usually surly expression. "...uh, huh. I guess I don't remember. That is...strange?"

Jenny folds her arms thoughtfully. "Some kind of spell, probably?"

You nod, then notice Riot's raised eyebrow. "Oh, we're witches. This Starbucks is under our protection, and she's probably another witch trying to destroy us or whatever."

Riot yawns again. "'Kay. Can I go?"

"Sure?"

Isabelle watches her amble away, a bit taken aback by her immediate acceptance. "Is that because of the ward we made?"

"That, and I think she just legitimately doesn't care."

Jenny slips down into the booth that might as well be yours at this point, frowning deeply. "So we know the Mysterious Voice is a Karen who drinks caffeinated candy, probably. How is that useful?"

Isabelle shrugs as she sits down across from Jenny, scooting over to make room for you. "Well, it confirms that it's not someone close to us. That's pretty important."

"Yeah, and also that we were only found out by chance." You sit down and immediately pull out your phone, typing something in. "So we probably aren't dealing with some all-powerful arcane master or something. She's probably stronger than us, but when push comes to shove she's just some lady. She told me to meet her when the moon was waning, what did she tell you guys?"

Jenny cocks her head to one side. "She told me to come when it's almost done waxing."

"And she told me to come when it was full." Isabelle huffs out an annoyed breath. "So her plan was to draw us in one at a time and pick us off?"

You shrug. "Maybe. Or it could have been part of a longer scheme. Getting us to keep secrets from each other, all three of us thinking we were getting some sort of special important attention. Get us to start backstabbing each other. The full moon is Sunday? So she's probably going to be expecting Jenny by Saturday."

Jenny furrows her brow. "At the 'Place of Power', wherever that is."

"Yeah, we're gonna have to look into that. Until then, though, we definitely need to boost our power. Yo, Sydney!" The buxom barista joins you at your booth, pulling her more or less useless tubetop back up again as you lift up your phone. "I'm having this overnighted to you." Sydney beams at the sight of the top of the line breast pump you just ordered. "Whenever you start feeling full, milk yourself and keep stored here for us to pick up, okay?"

"Okay~!" Sydney gives you a delighted salute, her heavy boobs immediately popping out of her top again.

Jesus, you'd jokingly suggest she just go topless if you weren't entirely certain she'd gladly do just that. You turn back to your two friends. "I'll see what I can do about getting something from Jessie, too. Any thoughts about how we can power up the sigils at school? Because hooking people up one by one is definitely too slow."

Isabelle perks up. "Oh, I actually have a plan for that! I was going to try it out tomorrow, so if it goes well I'll fill you guys in, okay?"

Jenny waggles her fingers at Isabelle. "Oooo, mysterious..." She snickers as Isabelle sticks out her tongue. "Well I've been thinking about it too, and I know there's going to be one perfect source of power for my end of things: the party this Friday."

Oh, you'd almost forgot about that! "So we put a sigil down there, too?"

Jenny shakes her head at that. "No, I think there's a better way. Besides, claiming ownership of David Wright's house seems sort of like a dick move, right?"

"Yeah, true. Well, do we have any other ideas?" Your friends shake their heads, and you give a little shrug. "Well, that's a start. Why don't we call that a day, then, and see what we come up with tomorrow?"

Jenny and Isabelle seem to agree, the latter stretching a bit while the former glances at the sudden buzz from her phone. "Oh blah, Mom wants me to pick up Hannah from tennis club. Are you ready to go, Ash?"

Before you can respond Isabelle speaks up. "Oh, um, if you've got to pick up your sister, I could take Ash home..."

Wait, really? You're paralyzed between wanting to eagerly agree and desperately refused, but Jenny doesn't give you the chance. She all but flies out of the booth, stranding you so quickly that you barely caught her look of mischievous glee. "Okay awesome thanks bye!"

You can only swallow to steady yourself as you watch the Jenny-shaped dust cloud she left behind fading away. Why the fuck would she-? You glance over to Isabelle, who gives you a sheepish smile and an awkward little wave that sends your heart dripping out through your toes. "Sooo, ready to go?"

So not only do you have to contend with some nefarious other power, you also have to ride home alone with the girl of your dreams? Zeus Himself could come down and offer you a magic spear and a flying horse and you'd still feel under prepared for this. That's the thing they never tell you about transforming into a teenage witch. It's fucking complicated.