Chapter 20 A New Perspective

Monday and Tuesday passed without incident. Kat and Lily had both prepared long enough for their final exams and for Kat at least, the pressure was drastically decreased. She no longer had to worry about finding a place to stay in a year, she didn't have to worry about what to do with Sylvie, and her demon summoning had told her she'd be getting paid eventually, or rather as soon as she became a full demon. Wednesday passed in a similar fashion to the first two days.

It seems like Kat's intrepid trio couldn't quite go the full three weeks without some prank though, so they gathered up a bucket of water each and hid around the corner waiting for her to pass by. Truthfully, Kat could have avoided the incident if she wanted, the buckets were clearly visible as they hung out past the corner, and the three idiots were still talking as they waited. Nonetheless Kat continued on until a great wall of water hit her face and the sound of buckets hitting the ground and sprinting legs reached her ears.

*Welp, they left me well alone for two weeks which I thought was a bit much. It's a little annoying, I still have classes today so I'm going to be a bit wet, but after so long I can put up with this much.* Kat lifted her hand to wipe her face off only to touch smooth skin. Poking around the rest of her face and the front of her hair it dawned on her what happened.

*I have water repelling skin now, of course why didn't I think about it. And those fools just tried to hit me in the face. I wonder if it was because they thought I'd started wearing makeup and wanted to ruin it or if they wanted to avoid soaking my clothes too badly.* Kat shrugged *I suppose it doesn't matter; I best just get back to class. *

Confidently striding back to class as she entered the door, she shot a smug look towards the trio in the back of the classroom. They just stared, dumbstruck at a completely dry and intact Kat while Lily just looked between the two groups confused.

##

And so, Thursday, passed and Friday afternoon approached before Sylvie and Kat were called into Gramps office. Taking a seat in the main chair, Kat once again sat opposite Gramps, while Sylvie decided Kat's lap was the ideal seating arrangement.

"So, I've done the required background and personality checks. And a few more. Along with some additional investigation… Anyway, Vivian checks out completely, I'm more than happy to let you girls sort everything out and get things approved at your earliest convenience. I haven't told Vivian yet, which isn't quite standard procedure, but, well, exceptions and all that. Have you both thought this through? While I'm happy to take you both back, I just need to make sure," said Gramps.

Kat hesitated for a moment, but Sylvie replied, "Yup, we're all sorted out thanks Gramps. You can tell Vivian whenever you want."

"Ok, I can do that for you Sylvie, when did you want to schedule the signing?"

"Tomorrow!" said Sylvie.

"I'm surprised to see you so excited Sylvie, am I really that scary to be around?" said Gramps with mock hurt.

"Nope, but this seems fun, and I get to leave my roommates," said Sylvie.

"Well, just don't let them hear that before you leave," said Gramps gently.

*And, there goes the conversation I suppose. Why do I feel like the child here?* Thought Kat as she walked out of the room with Sylvie in hand. Leaving Sylvie in her room, Kat went upstairs and showered before getting ready. *I still can't quite get used to showering without the water sticking to me, it sort of feels more like a massage now and I don't even know if it still helps keep me clean, and I don't want to ask the system for that particular answer.* Staring at herself in the mirror, she willed her Demonic Attire to cover her and it instantly appeared. Walking down the hall back to her room, Kat laid down on her bed, determined to get a little bit of sleep before she was summoned.

Awoken to the usual smell of fire and ash, Kat nonchalantly placed her hand through the portal and enjoyed the ride. Flames of various colours flashed by until she found herself in a chamber similar to her second summoning but much more well maintained. She seemed to be in a secret room of sorts. It was somewhat cramped and poorly lit, but the dust had been cleared away and in the circle opposing her she found a tall woman with a kimono well made in much the same way as Kat's own except with brighter designs.

The woman's light blue hair was pulled over her front and was longer than Kat's own newly lengthened style. Waving behind the woman were five fluffy fox tails and a set of ears rested on her head. She had a strong piercing gaze as she looked at Kat and it seemed to command the attention of the room. *Hmm, this seems a bit familiar, wonder if it's a queen this time?*

With a crystal clear voice, the fox lady spoke: "Demon, I have summoned you for an important mission that cannot fail. I need you, to kidnap the princess."

#####

Meanwhile Vivian was knocking, repeatedly on Callisto's door.

A slight crack opened and a single blue eye peered out into the hallway.

"What's with all the banging Vivian? What's so important that you need to ensure my attention? I could hear you running all the way here," snapped Callisto.

"I've got some great news for both of us you see-" the door shut in Vivian's face. Pouting Vivian went back to hammering on the door.

"What?" said Callisto.

"Meanie, how could you slam the door in my face when I said I had great news?" said Vivian pouting.

"No, no you don't have great news, you have that look on your face that says that I've made an important decision without thinking it through or consulting my roommate so I'm going to pretend it's a surprise for everyone," said Callisto.

"Now when have I ever done that Callisto? Name one time." said Vivian.

"What about that time you tried to take home someone else's dog?" said Callisto. Poking her tongue out, Vivian replied, "It looked so lost all by itself, any decent person would have decided to take it."

"We were in the middle of a park and it had a ball in its mouth," shot Callisto.

"Exactly! Wasn't it adorable? And besides no one was around," said Vivian.

"They were right behind us. They heard the whole conversation."

"Those are minor details, Callisto, and besides this is completely different. This time we'll be getting two kids instead," said Vivian with a hopeful smile.

"Vivian, you can't just find two sisters on the street and expect to adopt them. There is a process. And how do you even know they'd want to hang out with you?" said Callisto.

"Well, for your information they aren't sisters, so there," said Vivian puffing out her chest as if that negated all of Callisto's argument.

"Riiight… I'm going to phone the police and warn them their might be an abduction in the area, hopefully they can prevent you from doing anything too silly," said Callisto.

"Seriously Callisto. Those two girls I met last Saturday. They are both really sweet and when I found out they were orphans I couldn't just leave them there. I confirmed everything with both of them over the phone, I passed all the background checks and Sylvie even wanted to have all the paperwork signed tomorrow."

Callisto just sighed and said, "You're really going to do this Vivian?"

"Yes, they really are sweet girls and I thought about it really hard over the week before I accepted the offer just now. I promise you I know what I'm doing."

"You mean that they thought it was better not to immediately jump in the deep end and agree with you so it took a week to sort things out?" said Callisto.

"Well, I mean that's not exactly untrue, but I swear I thought about it lots. I didn't even accept any new clients this week so I'd have more time to think."

"Vivian, you spent the week browsing for furniture, which now that I say that out loud makes a lot more sense in hindsight," muttered Callisto.

"Well, I can't just have the girls rooms be completely empty… I didn't find anything nice enough though, so I'll just have to go shopping with them both sometime soon," said Vivian.

"Welp, you can be responsible for them it's not my problem," said Callisto.

"Oh don't be like that. Don't think I can't see you smiling in that dark room," said Vivian."You can't see me. I'm behind the door," said Callisto.

"Callisto, you can't fool me. I am the master of smiles; no smile can escape my notice. It's an instinct I've honed over years. I can detect a smile at 100m," said Vivian skipping away happily, for in her heart she knew she was right. Her roommate was smiling behind that door.