Immediately after we all got back to the living room, mom one got home,

  “Anne? I’ve had an absolutely miserable day so far.”

  Mom two nodded,

  “I’ll make you some hot chocolate before I go to work. Also, Autumn is apparently a magical girl now.”

  Mom one looked at me and the octagonal silver medal I was wearing, a blue gem shining in its center.

  “Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me. You can tell me the whole story later.”

  Mom one slumped into the sofa and started watching a game show on the television, evidently exhausted.

  After a moment, Rachel asked a question,

  “So, what does your transformation look like anyway?”

  I blinked,

  “I’ve never done it before. How would I know?”

  “Let’s go find out, in the bathroom.”

  I nodded, and the two of us quickly went to the bathroom. Rachel closed the curtain and asked “So, how do you turn that medal on?”

  Wait, Berro didn’t ever get around to telling me that part. I turned the medal this way and that in my hands, tried shaking it, then eventually tried poking the gem with my finger. There was a flash of every color imaginable, then my vision cleared. I also felt some very noticeable changes to my body plan; namely a flexible tail, catlike ears, and retractable claws in my fingers and toes.

  Rachel evidently also noticed this, given what she said next.

  “Congratulations, a catgirl is you. May I take some pictures?”

  I shrugged,

  “Sure.”

  I looked myself right in my now slitted eyes, even as Rachel started dancing around me with her phone out. While the shape of my face was mostly the same, I otherwise looked like a completely different person.

  Even before getting to the feline features, my hair and eye color were now a deep, saturated red. My skin had cleared up too, acne completely gone. Aside from my face, I was also a lot more muscular, though the exact muscle tone was hard to see under the armored thigh-length dress I was wearing.

  The transformation also came with a silver circlet on my head, which Rachel and I quickly determined projected a protective field in lieu of a helmet.

  Meanwhile, my right hip sported both a holstered pistol, and a scabbard that was far too short for the sword that turned out to be sheathed in there, despite fitting perfectly. Given that my armor allowed me to move each finger independently while still having a mitten-style protective back for my hands, it looked like I’d be able to use them both just fine.

  Combining all that with the orange color of my armor’s padded underlayer... I looked like a quite literal Autumn Knight.

  Rachel spoke up after I admired myself for a few minutes,

  “Right, I’ve got photographs of you from every angle. Berro mentioned that the medal only has a few hours of power before he needs to recharge it, right?”

  I nodded,

  “Yeah, I should probably de-transform when I don’t need it. Shame, though; I kinda like being a cat. It just fits.”

  Though the medal had clearly merged itself with the armor plate of my cuirass, its blue gem still shone from the center of my chest. I pressed the gem again, and with another flash of every imaginable color I was back to being my regular human self.

  Looking closely at my transformation medal, Rachel asked, “Is it just me, or does that gem look a little bit greener than it did before?”

  I looked too, and sure enough my sister was correct.

  “Maybe it’s a charge meter type thing? The gem could change color depending on how much energy it has left. I’ll ask Berro next time I see him.”

  No longer needing the bathroom, Rachel and I went back to the living room. Sure enough, mom one was carefully sipping away at the hot chocolate mom two made for her. I sat down on the couch next to her, not saying anything. After a moment, Ruby asked,

  “So, magical girls.”

  I nodded,

  “Pretty much. Rachel took pictures of Berro the sponsor, and also me in my Magical Girl form. Actually, just a moment while I forward them to you.”

  Mom one took a few minutes to inspect the pictures in question.

  “Even aside from the absolute beating my worldview took today, I can’t spot any signs of generative AI or image editing in those pictures.”

  That’s when Anne chimed in,

  “Autumn, I gave mom one the basic rundown while you and Rachel were in the bathroom. You don’t need to explain how the medals and stuff work.”

  I nodded,

  “Okay. You’re heading out to work at the bar now, I think?”

  Mom two nodded,

  “Yes, I should be home around eight, if nothing unexpected comes up.”

  Ruby got up from the couch and set down her hot chocolate on the counter,

  “Hugs before you go, my love.”

  “Certainly, Ruby.”

  My mothers embraced for several seconds,

  “I love you, Anne.”

  “I love you too.”

  Then my mothers released each other, and Anne exited the apartment.

  There were a few moments of silence, my mom sipping away at her hot chocolate. Then she set it down and turned to face me and Rachel.

  “So. Autumn and I have both had our schedules for the rest of the day completely upturned. Does anyone else have any ideas for what to do with our afternoon?”

  I shrugged,

  “Go online and see if there’s any other magi in the area? Make sure people have a basic idea how it works, maybe set up some chatrooms for hero shenanigans.”

  That’s when Rachel pointed out a rather obvious problem.

  “Autumn, the vast majority of people still don’t think the monster attacks are real, and they’ve been going on for a month. Without something beyond just photos from one or two phones, people will just say the footage is fake.”

  Mom two spoke up,

  “I have a bit of an idea in that department. Head over to the park and show off your transformed state in public for a couple hours. It’ll also help you figure out what you can do while transformed, when you aren’t having to deal with a monster.”

  Ten minutes later, Rachel and I were at the Cambridge Common, one of the closer parks to home. Specifically, we were in front of the park’s Civil War monument. There were something like thirty people in the general vicinity, all of whom were engaged in their own activities. I turned to my sister.

  “So Rachel, any ideas for how to get everyone’s attention?”

  Rachel grinned evilly, then took a deep breath. Oh no.

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  “HEY EVERYONE! LOOK AT MY SISTER HERE!”

  Before I could process what was happening through my utter mortification, Rachel had grabbed my left hand and pressed my finger against the gem of my transformation medal. With a flash I was back in my armor, feline traits also on proud display. Meanwhile, Rachel was giggling in unrepentant glee.

  “Rachel, what the hell!?”

  “Hey it worked, didn’t it?”

  Sure enough, everyone was staring at me. Quite a few people’s jaws were hanging open. After a moment, an old man who’d been reading muttered,

  “What on God’s green earth is going on here?”

  Right, moment of truth.

  “Hello everyone, I’m Autumn Knight, and I’m a newly recruited magical girl. If everyone could please start taking video of me, er…”

  That’s when Rachel butted in again,

  “What my introverted sister is trying to say is that we want to share everything we know about how magical girls work, and also find out if there’s any other magi in the area. So get filming; the more angles we get this from, the harder it is to brush off as fake.”

  At that point, a pimpled teenage boy spoke up.

  “So, what can you actually do aside from the quickchange act?”

  I didn’t give myself time to think about it, dashing across the bricks to be right next to him as fast as I could. I just barely managed to stop before reaching the boy half a second later. He looked a little bit shocked at how fast I went.

  “I don’t actually know what I can do; I’ve only transformed once before, and that was just finding out what I looked like.”

  Only now did Rachel catch up to me, my sister having slightly winded herself in the process.

  “Hahhh, well it’s pretty clear that you’re a lot faster like this. Makes me wonder how high you can jump.”

  “Worth checking. Everyone stand back, please.”

  I put a bit of distance between myself and everyone else. Then I bent my knees, and kicked away from the ground as hard as I could. I was briefly aware of being level with the nearby treetops, before I started tumbling in midair. I frantically twisted this way and that in an effort to land back on my feet, but didn’t quite manage.

  There was a loud clang as my armored skirt hit the bricks, and I felt a sharp pain in my tail. I managed to get back to my feet in a couple seconds, and some cursory inspections indicated that I hadn’t received any serious injuries.

  The teenage boy piped up again,

  “So you go really fast and jump really high. That’ll be pretty impressive when you get the hang of it, but is there anything else you can do?”

  I blinked,

  “I mean probably? These -” I gestured to the holstered weapons at my side “- certainly aren’t just for show. But I’m really reluctant to get them out when I’m not at a gun range or in an actual fight. Too much risk of hurting someone by accident.”

  The old man from earlier nodded,

  “That’s quite wise of you. Weapons are tools for killing, and taking them lightly is just begging for trouble. Which brings to mind the rather important question of why exactly there’s people going around handing out lethal weapons to young whippersnappers like you.”

  Rachel chimed in again,

  “I mean, Berro said why. But in retrospect his reasoning is pretty shaky.”

  The old man raised an eyebrow, and Rachel recounted what we’d learned from Berro’s explanation. The old man paused in thought for a moment, then pointed to me.

  “Autumn Knight, was it? I’ve lived eighty rough years on this earth, meeting all manner of cheats and scoundrels. And from everything I’ve just been told, that Berro is one of them. He’s trying to use you for his own personal gain somehow. Be careful.”

  I nodded,

  “I will, mister…”

  “Green. Frederick Green. Friends call me Freddy.”

  There was an awkward pause as everyone kept recording and streaming video in silence for a moment, then the teenage boy asked a rather pertinent question.

  “So, should we even try to get more people signed up as magi? It’s pretty clear the Sponsors are up to no good.”

  I sighed,

  “We may need to. Monster attacks are absolutely happening, and they need to be dealt with somehow.”

  Before I could continue that line of thought, a van pulled up. Out came a woman holding a microphone, followed by a cameraman.

  In retrospect, I should have expected that to happen.

  Two hours of demonstrating my enhanced physical prowess and explaining everything over and over later, Rachel and I went home. When we arrived, Mom one looked up from her computer.

  “So, how did it go?”

  I muttered “went ok” as I de-transformed and practically fell onto the couch, the tiredness I was already feeling getting a lot more noticeable without the medal boosting me. Meanwhile, Rachel had more to say,

  “Well, just about everyone is going to know about magic and the Sponsors by tomorrow, judging by how that whole event is blowing up online. I also set up a chat server for people in the general Boston area who are interested in magic stuff, and it’s got over two hundred members already. More are showing up by the minute, so there should be well over a thousand by tomorrow. As it stands, I’m having a hell of a time finding even vaguely trustworthy moderators.”

  Mom two tsk’d,

  “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch, Rachel. I’ve learned the hard way that early success doesn’t mean it’ll keep going.”

  “I mean, that’s a good point? But also this is high-key the biggest news item since ever, given we kind of took a sledgehammer to everyone’s worldviews.”

  By now, I’d managed to regain a bit of stamina, and chipped into the conversation.

  “You know, this is going to result in the Sponsors getting constantly hounded for interviews and stuff, which I think is really funny.”

  Speak of the devil and he shall appear, there was a knock at the bedroom window. Rachel went to look who it was, quickly reporting that it was Berro again.

  Mom one shrugged,

  “Let him in.”

  A few moments later, Berro was in the kitchen. His posture was notably tense as he projected an image of himself running from a crowd of stick figures.

  “Autumn, what did you do!?”

  I didn’t bother answering verbally, just turning on the television to a news channel. Sure enough, there was the footage of my interview and the demonstrations of my transformed state’s abilities. Berro’s jaw dropped.

  “Earth has televisors!? How!? They cannot be using magic, and there is no room for a tube!”

  I shrugged,

  “I dunno, you’d have to ask an engineer. Kind of surprised that you guys managed to miss it, given there’s screens basically everywhere.”

  There was a bit of an awkward pause as Berro tried to piece together the smashed bits of his worldview. A moment later, he projected images of a stack of hundred dollar bills.

  “The good news is we now have a source of Earth money to pay for your services. We’ve also been approached about recruiting more hunters by the local government, and have obtained permission to open a local office for recruiting, recharging medals, and turning in pearls.”

  I nodded,

  “I don’t have any pearls with me right now, but could I maybe get a recharge while you’re here? I used something like a third of its capacity during all that showing off.”

  Berro sighed,

  “Recharging medals requires equipment I do not carry right now. Also, you have barely been in your regular state since I last saw you! Those medals are supposed to last for multiple hunts before needing a recharge. Be more responsible with its use!”

  That’s when Rachel spoke up,

  “But my sister’s so cute when she’s transformed! The kitty ears and the tail and everything, she even purrs!”

  I could feel the blush on my face.

  “Rachel! That’s private!”

  “Autumn, you were purring the entire way home! Everyone heard it, there’s no way it can be considered private.”

  Both Berro and Ruby facepalmed at this exchange. Well, facepawed in Berro’s case.

  There was another awkward pause, which I eventually broke.

  “So, do you have an address for that office you’re setting up?”

  Berro nodded, and passed me a business card.

  “I do.”

  I quickly read the card, memorizing the address.

  “Pretty close to the downtown crossing station of the MBTA. Convenient for just about anyone in the general area, considering just about all of the transit options go through there at some point.”

  Berro beamed,

  “Indeed! Is prime real estate. Will make for excellent regional base.”

  After a moment, mom one thought of something to add.

  “You may want to hire a local publicity team. Given how much of a shock television gave you, it’s pretty clear you Sponsors have no idea how information spreads around here on Earth.”

  Berro shook his head,

  “Is not necessary. I knew television is, just didn’t know Earth had it.”

  A wry grin appeared on my mother’s face.

  “If you say so.”

  Rachel changed the topic,

  “So Berro, while you’re visiting, is there anything you would like to eat?”

  Berro tilted his head.

  “Thank you no. I am not from Earth, safe local foods are yet unknown.”

  A reasonable concern, I guess. After a little bit, I hauled myself upright.

  “So, is that it then? You were just stopping by to let us know about the new office and ask us some questions?”

  Berro nodded,

  “Yes Autumn, that is correct. I will be going now.”

  Then my medal blinked blue. Rachel asked,

  “Doesn’t that mean there’s enough magic in the area to form a monster?”

  Berro nodded,

  “Yes. Blinks faster in area with more magic.”

  The medal blinked again.

  “We are only barely above medal’s detection threshold. Monster far more likely to form further towards drift center, where magic is thicker.”

  I nodded grimly,

  “So I need to hunt down the center of the drift to keep people from getting hurt.”

  Berro agreed,

  “Yes, is time to hunt. I will come for first hunt to teach a bit.”

  I transformed back into what I was already starting to think of as my true self, and Berro hopped on my shoulder. I barely felt his weight.

  Rachel asked,

  “Can I come with you, to see what it’s like?”

  I for one was on board with this idea, but Berro objected,

  “No, you are slower than Autumn, and vulnerable in a fight. Autumn will have enough trouble protecting me as is; I am only going so as to impart relevant knowledge.”

  Rachel looked crushed, but relented. Meanwhile, mom one just pulled me into a hug; the armor meant I barely felt it, but I still appreciated the gesture.

  “Autumn, come home safe at the end of this. That’s an order.”

  I nodded seriously,

  “I’ll do my best, mom.”

  “I know you will.”

  Berro spoke up again,

  “Yes yes very touching, but we are on tight time limit!”

  Right. Now thoroughly focused on the task at hand, I opened the apartment’s front door, almost flew down the stairs to the ground floor, and made my way out into the night.

  It was time to hunt.

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  February 21, 2026