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“It should not hurt the creature. As you know, magic affects things differently. I cannot guarantee her safety. But we need to know what she saw.” Daithi begged, “Please, Zaide, you owe me this.”
I inhaled sharply at the blow. It was a reminder that I’d failed him and Savida today. They rescued me. I owed them a debt. And so, I needed to rescue Savida by whatever means necessary.
I don’t want to hurt Clawdia.
I closed my eyes and gave the choice to the Fates. “She is her own being and smart enough to guide us to him. I think she should decide her destiny.” I kneeled down, and Clawdia immediately trotted over to me, placing her head in my large hand and nuzzling it. “What do you think, fierce Little Cat? Do you want to tell us what happened?” She meowed. “If you do, go to Daithi. If you don’t, go to Charlie.”
She walked over to Daithi and sat herself at his feet, staring up at him. I swallowed my bad feeling and respected her decision. I nodded to Daithi, and he nodded back.
A bright light emerged from him; it was as blinding as it was beautiful. I couldn’t look away. The light enveloped Clawdia and then flashed, making both Charlie and I flinch away, dizzily. Daithi moaned, and I heard him hit the floor. I winced at the thought of him hitting the tools scattered around but was helpless to do anything. Stunned motionless, I watched the magic’s effect on Clawdia.
She had fallen to her side, and as the light dimmed, it became like fluid, slithering in patterns across her small body. Her front legs suddenly jolted inward, and her back legs grew outward. Her tail completely folded into her body; her claws receded too. Then all the fluffy white fur drew into her skin, except atop her head, where it grew long in honeyed blond tresses.
This is wrong. This shouldn’t be happening. He was going to give her a voice.
But I could not stop it. Daithi remained on the dirty wooden floor, unconscious, and his magic had taken on a life on its own.
Clawdia’s small mouth opened in a soundless scream, and my heart lurched. Dropping to my knees, I shuffled toward her. “I’m sorry, Little Cat. I’m so sorry.”
Her body kept growing, and I hugged her tight against me as the magic continued to do the impossible. Her ears moved, shrank, and turned into ones similar to the ones Charlie donned on his head. The features of the feline softened—her eyes became smaller, her nose buttoned out slightly, her mouth developed pouty red lips, and her teeth changed from fierce and deadly to blunt.
The cloud of light faded, and I could see Charlie peering toward us, trying to figure out what had happened.
He gasped when he saw her. “What the fuck?” I said nothing in response. “Seriously, Zaide, this is the most fucked up thing I’ve ever seen in my life. You are holding a naked girl that used to be my neighbor’s cat.”
I nodded slowly as I looked across the body of the human female in wonder. “I don’t think Daithi's illusion went as he expected.”
Her head pressed into my chest, so I could feel her breathing, but her hair shrouded her face, and her body shook from the exertion of the change. My hands stayed tight around her, my breathing still hard as shock overtook me.
“No shit, Sherlock.” He fell to his knees next to me, and his hands hovered over her, unsure if he should touch, before he pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes and groaned. “A cat turned human is the last thing we need right now. Is she going to shit in my garden? She won’t know how to use a toilet, so she’ll probably just shit in my garden, and I don’t think I’ll be able to get over that visual.”
“Charlie, you are panicking,” I acknowledged, feeling distant from my own emotions.
He took a deep breath and lowered his shaking hands to look at me. “Zaide, this. Is. Fucked. Up.”
“You are correct. But perhaps we should dwell on this later. First, let us get everyone home.”
He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “Okay. Pass me Clawdia, and you get the guys.”
“Clawdia,” I repeated and looked down at the human in my arms. I brushed the hair out of her face to look at perfect features. Glowing, unblemished skin, pink plump lips, a small nose.
Attraction.
I’d never felt it before, but as I gazed at her face and brushed her soft skin, I felt a longing. The urge to brush my lips across her forehead, her cheeks, her lips filled me, pushing out an old pain in my soul.
But I can’t be attracted to anyone that isn’t my soul pair.
“Margaret?” I whispered, pulling her up. I rested her head on my shoulder so I could look at her properly.
I could see a similarity between the child Daithi saw and the female in my arms, but I didn’t know if it was just wistful thinking.
Charlie heard my whisper and frowned as he stared at her. “She can’t be. Can she?”
“Charlie, you’ve just witnessed her turn from a cat to a human. I would think anything is possible.”
He paused and then looked at her, studying. “She does look like the little girl in the picture, but how did she end up as a cat for the last hundred years?”
“That is just one of the many things we can ask her when she has recovered from her trauma.” I gathered her closer to my chest and stood up. “Be careful with her, my friend,” I told Charlie as I placed her gently in his arms, the protective instinct that I felt for her as a cat still present. Charlie nodded but stared at her with an odd expression on his face. “Charlie?”
