This story was originally conceived to be a stand alone tale, but it fit Dorothy's M.Y.T.H. universe without too much modification. It starts about a year before Help! My girlfriend is a Unicorn!

This is the New Year edition.

I had intended to get it out by the end of December 2018, but real life intervened. I hope you all enjoy it, anyhow.

We first met Harry and Julie Garmish, along with their kids Marcie (was Steve) and Mark, in Halloween Dreams.

While subdivisions and property owners' associations are common fixtures about the western world, Tamarack Lake Shores is a bit off the beaten path. It's not your ordinary sub/POA. Like many of the wilderness subs, there are more summer/vacation homes than permanent residents.

Tamarack Lake Shores is a group of homes, cottages, and empty lots huddled around Tamarack Lake. The majority of the lots contain a cottage, or maybe just a place to park the fifth wheel or motor home. There are no restrictions on the type of home you may have. Flags, far from being banned, are encouraged. The fact that the were/fey community owns the majority of the lots is little known.

Local legend has it that there has never been a successful robbery or other crime there. A look at the police records bears this out. Those who have tried it are remarkably tight lipped about their experience, and refuse to set foot anywhere near the place again.

Guests of the residents, especially children, tell stories about petting wolves, bobcats, cougars, and bears; and meeting mermaids in the lake.

The lake itself is deep and very clear -- much clearer than any other local lakes, and even rivaling the famous Kitch-iti-kipi spring in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Most lots have a sand beach, and the undeveloped area near the tamarack marsh is well populated with bluegill, bass, perch, pike, walleye, and trout.

Twelve year old Marcie Garmish skipped along Lupo Avenue, a narrow private dirt road. She walked down Larch Street, and finally to her home. She was looking forward to ringing in the new year with new friends.

Her aura vision had detected only a few people, and no norms, as she walked from her friend's house. She wasn't surprised to see her brother Mark turn himself into a squirrel. He stood on his hind feet and chittered at their dog.

Before the dog could react, Mark skittered through the snow, ran up the dog's tail, and over his back. He paused on the dog's head and gave him a light tap on the nose. Then, he jumped straight forward and landed just about the same time the dog scrambled to his feet.

Mark let the dog almost catch him, floofed him in the nose with his tail, and scrambled to a tree. He climbed, spiraling up the trunk. The dog, just like any other dog, gave chase. He jumped up and down, trying to catch the squirrel that was just out of his reach. Mark chittered, teasing the dog mercilessly.

"Two can play this game," Marcie said gleefully. She touched her pendant, and was replaced by an over sized house cat with leopard spots. She shot after Mark, who scampered up the tree in seeming panic. He ran off the end of the branch, and on to the roof of the house, followed by Marcie.

They both ran across the roof and dropped down by the front door, leaving the dog in the back yard barking his fool head off. They switched to their three quarter forms and ran inside.

Harry Garmish, in his three quarter raccoon form, heard the music that had been playing in the other room stop. He slunk into the family room, where a three quarter skunk, after having just finished playing the piano, was languorously stretching. “Where are you, my little object of art? I am here to collect you,” he said in his best (still very bad) French Pepe Le Pew accent. He wrapped his arms around her and lifted her off of the piano bench. "We weel make beautiful music togezzer, no? A rar rar rar!"

She made a show of struggling to get out of his grasp. "Eet ees a trash panda," she said with an equally bad accent. "But it cannot be! My stripes go along, and yours are sideways. Zink of ze cheeldren! Ze weel be plaid!"

"We weel find a way, no?" He held her tighter and kissed her.

Mark and Marcie burst into the room. They mimed sticking their fingers down their throats and made retching noises.

"Ah, Julie, my petite femme fart squirrel! Zer ar ze plaid fuzzies right now!"

Before the kids could react, they ran over and wrapped them in a hug.

Penny, age nine, ran along Trowbridge street, enjoying the swish of her skirt, the bounce of her hair, and the lightness of her step.

She remembered the first time she was nine, almost seven decades ago, when she, then a he, was allowed to run freely about the neighborhood.

Times were different then. Even though it was somewhat more dangerous, people were less paranoid about children getting into trouble. Also, the neighbors watched any kids that happened to be in the area, and reported any problems to the kids' parents. Kids used to grumble that their mothers knew what they did before they even got home.

Nowadays, people can get officially charged for letting their kids into their own fenced back yard without parental hyper vigilance.

But not in this neighborhood. In this neighborhood, the 'mom network' is alive and active, and includes dads and brothers and sisters -- many having aura vision.

And, with the various were and fey active in the local law enforcement and justice system, such frivolous charges never come up.

Any who dare to attempt to molest the children don't succeed. They are never seen or heard from again.

The neighborhood is peaceful and safe. The norms appreciate that, but have no clue about why. Or, rather, they don't know the extent of the effectiveness of the local neighborhood watch.

Penny waved at the few people she saw peeking at her through the windows, and at the many more that were watching with their aura vision.

She ran around the corner to Jenson street, down half a block, then skipped up the walk to the Lupo home.

She ran in, yelling a greeting to everyone. She gave Cindy and Vicky a hug, grabbed a candy cane cocoa, and sat cross-legged next to the Christmas tree. Mindy, in her bobcat form, crawled into her lap. Both ends drooped over, but she didn't care. Karen, Lucy, and Matthew also cuddled around her.

"Hey, squirt! Have a good time with Ginny?" Cindy asked.

Penny smiled. After so many years spent as a sad and grumpy old man, she relished being called 'squirt.'

Mark, Donna, and Jimmy Jenson had a light snack, then went through a few foxholes and over to the church.

Being long time friends of the Lupos, they had teamed up with them centuries ago to build their respective homes, and several other homes in the fey realm. With Jim's nature powers, Linda's ability to twist time and space, and the other abilities among the two families, they made an effective team. Their willingness to help the other magic denizens earned them plenty of good will over the centuries.

With centuries of building and cooperation, it was easy for them to get around via the fey realm.

Vicky went to the baptismal font and touched the two latches. The lid slowly hinged up, revealing clean and warm chest deep water. The underwater foxhole that connects to a large warm clean freshwater lake in the fey realm was invisible and inactive. Satisfied that everything was ready, she closed the lid.

The Garmish family, all in their three quarter forms, ate a light dinner at around 4:00 PM. They were getting ready for game night.

While it would be more convenient to use the fey realm, they volunteered to drive in order to maintain the illusion that everyone and everything was normal. They got to the church in time to help the Jenson and Lupo families finish setting up.

The latches on the baptismal font worked themselves loose and the lid hinged up. A blonde head with intense turquoise blue eyes popped up, followed by a very busty torso.

"Hello, Veronica," said Cindy. "Fancy meeting you here."

Veronica ducked back under the water, then burst out like a jumping fish. Several feet of mermaid flew out of the font. At the peak of her trajectory, her long emerald green tail turned into a pair of legs. She landed lightly, totally dry, wearing nothing but her pewter locket and a smile.

Pastor Dave rolled his eyes. "The norms will be arriving soon. You wouldn't want to scandalize them, would you?"

Veronica, seemed unworried. "I'll be done in a bit."

A tidal wave of water came out of the font and soaked the carpeted floor of the sanctuary. Jimmy Jenson chuckled and manifested some powdered soap above the puddle. Veronica caused the water to start churning and moving throughout the church -- up the walls, on the ceiling, over the lamps, in the pews, through the bathrooms, through the kitchen, all around the fellowship center -- everywhere. The glob of water hovered over the trash barrel and dropped a load of dry soap powder and dirt. It made another circuit of the church to rinse the last of the soap and dust out of everything. After dumping a much smaller batch of dirt into the trash, Veronica caused the clean and sterile water to go back into the baptismal font.

And not a second too soon.

Veronica dashed behind the sound booth when she heard people enter the vestibule. She picked up her locket and looked at it. On one side was a beautiful mermaid with tiny emeralds set in her tail, two small turquoises set in her eyes, and hair of a gold alloy that matched Veronica's hair. On the other side was a young girl in her middle teens, similarly adorned with the turquoise eyes and golden hair. All of that was set into a tin alloy locket that Vicky had carefully crafted.

She opened the dry side -- the side with the girl engraved on it. At her touch, it expanded. The bottom still contained the engraving of the girl, but the top contained an opening -- a bag of holding.

She reached inside and pulled out a wad of clothing. By the time the first guests had entered the sanctuary, she was dressed.

People started arriving and chatting. They filed into the pews when Pastor Dave made his way to the front.

He gave a short service, thanking God for the previous year and the new people who have joined the church family. Three of the new people wanted to be baptized, and the eve of the new year was as good a day as any.

As soon as the service was over, the volunteers pulled the cold snacks from the refrigerator and set them out. The rest of the congregation and guests wandered into the fellowship hall.

As more people arrived, the sound level rose. Still, it was mostly calm. There was no booze and no raucous behavior. People ate, drank, and were merry. There were a number of board games set up. Monopoly was popular, but so was checkers, Parcheesi, backgammon, chess, and even mouse trap. Some of the more traditional adults grumbled about the video games, especially the small hand-held games that were played solo.

The party ended at about nine, giving those who wanted the traditional booze-filled revelry time to travel to the party of their choice.

The members of the magical community that drove to the church left that way, including those that closed the church building and turned out the lights. They went back via the fey realm and met in the magical fellowship hall. Once everyone was there, they turned on the time dilation.

Vicky gave Veronica a hug. "Ah, so here is my favorite fashion challenged mermaid!"

Veronica huffed. "Bite your tongue, foxy! I happen to like tin."

"It's pewter, but whatever. It's mostly tin. But I offered you gold or silver or platinum or iridium or osmium or rubidium or..."

"I'm afraid that rubidium wouldn't do very will in the water," Cindy interrupted.

"Neither would the silver, for that matter," Veronica added. "Not salt water, anyhow."

"Diamonds or rubies or emeralds or nice, ocean blue sapphires or..."

Veronica stuck out her tongue. "I like tin!"

"No accounting for tastes," Vickie giggled.

"Ha! She does know how to giggle!" Cindy said.

"It was your imagination. I don't giggle." Vickie said, sticking out her tongue.

Pastor Dave whistled for attention. "It's time to introduce and welcome everyone who has joined the magical community in the past year."

He called up the first three, one at a time. Vicky was was number four.

Jim Lupo, along with Linda and Cindy, joined Pastor Dave.

Jim called Vicky up. "Earlier this year, we found an unmanifested were right here in the church. What had started as a mission of mercy became a great blessing for our family. Victoria Catalina Lupo has embraced her vixen side and has joined the other two vixens at keeping this poor defenseless were wolf on his toes."

Cindy called up Harry, Julie, Marcie, and Mark Garmish. Harry, in his three quarter raccoon form, wore a 'Sandra and Woo' shirt. Julie, in her three quarter skunk form, wore a Fifi Le Fume shirt. Marcie and Mark, in their spotted cat and squirrel three quarter forms, didn't bother with clothing.

"We were trick-or-treating when we found these adorable kids. They must have sensed their eventual forms because Mark was dressed as a squirrel, and Marcie was dressed as a kitty girl cheerleader. When we met their parents, we could tell that they were unmanifested weres. We fixed that as soon as we could. So now, our little community is richer by one trash panda, one fart squirrel, one spotted kitty, and one mischievous little squirrel. "

Vicky called up Mindy, Karen, Lucy, and Matthew. "When we were helping Santa grant wishes for all of the local kids, one very mature but sad child tried to help his brother and two sisters enjoy Christmas. The four of them were the last foster kids of Harry and Thelma Buckmaster, who were trying to retire. To make a long story short, Mom and Dad adopted them. So, we now have a lynx girl in the family. Karen, Lucy, and Matthew are also having a wonderful time, and are trying different forms."

Vicky and Cindy, together, called up Penny. "Come on, squirt!"

Penny came up and told her own story about almost ending it all just a week ago. After she was rescued by the Lupo family, she was healed by Mark Jenson, and adopted by the Lupos. The magic community, having heard of other unactivated weres that had died of depression, understood.

Everyone welcomed the newcomers.

After some hours of enjoying each other's company, the people left in ones and twos and threes and families. The Lupo family, now nine strong, were the last to leave.