Margaret and George thought they knew where Harriette was going. They had called the police and they had said that they would keep an eye out for her. They didn't have any real hope that the police would find her tonight. The police had become skittish about going out at night since it was revealed that creatures such as werewolves were real. They didn't go out at night themselves anymore but this was different. They had to go look for their new daughter and the most likely place she would be was at Jen's house.
They didn't see Harriette on the drive over to Jen's. When they arrived they sat in their car for a few minutes. They didn't want to go up to a house they considered to be infested with demons now but their love for Harriette was stronger than their fear.
Charlene answered the door and was surprised to see Harriette's parents standing there with looks of fear and misery on their faces. Margaret, George, what brings you here?" she asked. "I thought you didn't leave your home at night."
"Is Harry here?" George asked.
"I haven't seen her since I dropped her off" Charlene said. "What happened?"
"She ran away!" Margaret wailed. This brought Jen, Allison, and Andrew to the door too.
"Come in and tell us what happened" Charlene said.
George and Margaret hesitated for a moment but accepted the offer. In short order they recounted what had happened from the time Charlene dropped Harriette off. George still referred to her as Harry but Margaret was referring to her as Harriette. After a reminder of what Father Winston said Margaret yelled "I DON'T CARE WHAT HE SAID! She's our daughter now."
"It isn't demonic forces that transformed Harriette" Charlene said. "The power that transformed her came from my sister/brother."
"I don't understand" George said.
"Remember when I was gone?" Charlene asked. After George and Margaret nodded she continued. "Well I was kidnapped and turned into a sex slave by a Kitsune named Karther. The others that were became my sisters through our shared experience. Two of them decided to become full Kitsune when an angel offered our choices."
"It was probably a demon tricking you" George said.
Unseen by any of them Kyriel was watching this along with Myriel, the angel assigned to supervise her during her first few assignments. With a nod from Myriel Kyriel became visible and said "My parents weren't demons."
This of course startled everyone in the room. George was the first to speak saying "You're an angel" in an awed tone.
"Of course I am" Kyriel said. "Father Winston has good intentions but he's only human."
"Who are you?" Charlene asked.
"My name is Kyriel" Kyriel said. "I've been assigned to help you through your pregnancy."
"Well it's nice to meet you Kyriel" Charlene said. "Can you find Harriette?"
"I'm sorry but no" Kyriel said. "My job is to help pregnant women through their pregnancies. I can send out a call for help. There are angels that help missing children. Of course they need to find the missing child first."
"Arcturo may be able to find her" Allison said. "Arcturo!"
Arcturo flew down the stairs and settled on the back of the sofa. "What do you need?" he asked after a moment.
George and Margaret were shocked at first but they realized that Arcturo was a parrot. After a glance at them Allison asked "Can you sense where Harriette is?"
After a moment Arcturo replied "I'm sorry but I can't sense her."
"Does that mean she's dead?" Margaret asked her face full of fear. "Please tell me that's not it. She's only seven."
"Death is but one reason why I can not sense her" Arcturo said. "She may simply be out of my range or shielded."
"We have to find her" Allison said. "The demonic wolves might still be out there."
"You girls are not going to go up against them again" Charlene said sternly. "If you remember what happened last time?"
Allison hung her head knowing that they would be outnumbered and outclassed if they ran into the demonic wolves again. It wasn't something she wanted to repeat. Jen stunned everyone by asking "Allison, can you fly?"
Allison hadn't considered that she might be able to fly though it would make sense since she had wings in her magical girl form. "I think I might be able to" she said. "Why?"
Jen grew serious and said "If you can you and Arcturo can look for Harriette by flying."
"Why didn't I think of that?" Allison asked without expecting an answer. She transformed and flapped her wings a few times. She did lift off the ground and hovered in the air for a few seconds before settling back down on the ground with a huge smile on her face.
George looked at Allison and said "You look like an angel."
"I'm not an angel" Allison said. "Just a magical girl who wants to protect people from the nasty things that go bump in the night. Now me and Arcturo should get going if we want to find Harriette before anything happens to her."
Allison opened the door and Arcturo flew out into the night quickly followed by Allison herself.
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Harriette had ran and taken so many twists and turns that she was thoroughly lost. She looked around her scared out of her wits. She was alone and lost at night. She knew that there were things in the night like vampires and werewolves that preyed upon unsuspecting people and she couldn't transform to protect herself. She had tried. She was wishing that she had never ran out. She sat down against an alley wall and cried.
"What's the matter little girl?" a masculine voice asked.
Harriette's head snapped up and she asked "Wh-who's th-th-there?"
"My name's Rodney" the voice said.
Harriette looked around but didn't see anybody. Confused she asked "Wh-where are you?"
"Look down" Rodney said.
Harriette did look down and let out an involuntary shriek when she saw the rat. "Please don't shriek like that" Rodney said. "It hurts my ears you know."
"S-sorry" Harriette said.
"Now then, what's wrong little girl?" Rodney asked.
"I'm lost and alone" Harriette said.
"Why are you out at night alone?" Rodney asked. "It's dangerous for one as young as you."
"I ran away" Harriette said. "My parents said I wasn't their daughter."
"That must have hurt" Rodney said with sympathy in his voice. "But I'm sure your parents are regretting saying that right now. People often say things in the heat of the moment that they don't mean."
"They think I'm a demon" Harriette said.
"Now why would they think that?" Rodney asked.
"I was a boy this morning and Father Winston told them I was" Harriette said.
"Do you wish to go home?" Rodney asked.
"I don't know" Harriette said.
"Is there anyplace you want to go?" Rodney asked.
"My friend Jen's place" Harriette said.
"Do you know the address?" Rodney asked.
"Yes" Harriette said.
"Good" Rodney said. "Tell me where she lives and I'll take you there."
Harriette told him the address and Rodney told her to follow him. She did and soon they were on a familiar street. Suddenly what looked like werewolves appeared out of alleys and surrounded them. There were twenty of them and the biggest one had a dangerous smile on it's face.
"Rats" Rodney said. "Demonic wolves. I can't phase you. They'd still be able to hurt you. I'll have to fight them." He grew and stood on his hind legs. Nothing else about him changed. "When I tell you to you run" he said in a tone that was hard to argue with. "I'll hold them off to give you time to escape."
Harriette wasn't sure Rodney could take these demonic wolves on by himself but she wouldn't be any help since she couldn't transform. Suddenly she heard Allison shout "Winged Panther Spirit!" A glowing white winged panther landed among the demonic wolves and started knocking them down.
Allison knew that her attack wouldn't do much more than delay the demonic wolves but that's what she needed. Arcturo landed on Harriette's shoulder and portaled her away. Allison landed next to Rodney and said "Transform back so I can carry you." Rodney did and Allison picked him up and flew off just as the head demonic wolf leaped at her. He just missed her and howled his frustration.
As Allison was flying back to her home she asked "So what's your name?"
"It's Rodney" Rodney said. "That was very brave of you."
"It was stupid" Allison said berating herself. "But you were protecting Harriette and I couldn't just leave you to them."
"It was brave" Rodney said. "You were smart about not staying to fight them. Though it looks like you already did that once."
"My aunt is going to kill me" Allison said.
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Allison had transformed back and was watching Margaret and George hugging Harriette. It looked like they had accepted that Harriette was a girl now and not possessed by a demon. Charlene had scolded Allison about putting herself in danger but since she didn't exactly fight the demonic wolves it wasn't as bad as last time. Allison would have to do extra chores for a couple of weeks though since Charlene reasoned Rodney could have shrunk back down and gone into the sewers. A fact that Rodney himself said he could have done. Everyone was shocked to hear that there were twenty demonic wolves now and Charlene invited George, Margaret, and Harriette to spend the night which they gladly
accepted. Now if only Marry's parents would come around.