The sunlight poured into Blythe's bedroom windows. It was the early morning and the birds had already started chirping their little songs.
Blythe slowly woke up from it. This doesn't normally happen, she thought. Normally only my alarm clock can wake me. She looked at her alarm clock. It showed that it was 7:45 AM. Huh.
She then noticed how far her alarm clock was and how big her bed sheets were. Well, that's odd. And why are my clothes so enormous and hanging around me like that? Just like if -
Oh no.
Blythe looked around, too scared to look at herself. She knew the inevitable had happened. She took a deep breath and decided to face it. When she looked at herself, she jumped backwards; the realization was now dawning in.
She was a cat.
She jumped off her bed and tried to walk to her desk. That is when she realized how easily she walked around on all fours, but decided to not further think about that. She then jumped from her chair onto her desk, allowing her to look at herself in the mirror nearby. She was stunned when she saw herself.
She had brown fur, the exact same color as her hair had been. Her paws were small, more similar to those of the guest pet Delilah rather than Youngmee's cat Sugar Sprinkles. Her hair wasn't totally gone; she had a lock of hair to the front of her head and one in the back of her head. She also had a long, but rather bland, tail. Her eyes had remained the same; if there was one trace of humanity left in her, Blythe reasoned, then it were her eyes.
Blythe just stood there for five minutes, examining herself. All this time she didn't make a sound; so concentrated she was at she saw before her. She didn't want to believe it was true. For her, it felt like - and she hoped that it was - that she was still asleep and in a few moments could just wake up from this.
But she knew she wouldn't.
An interruption soon came in; her tummy started to rumble. Oh... and I don't think I have anything at home that I can eat... she realized. Should she go downstairs, see if she could get food there? Now, if I would do that, I would run into Mrs. Twombly...
That made her realize something else.
Wait... did I call her last night?!
Blythe rushed over to her mobile phone, which she had left at her desk. She swiped over it - fortunately for her, it was a swipe-password - and opened up her history. Boy, am I lucky this thing has a touchscreen, Blythe thought. Otherwise I could never do this. Blythe went over her history. Her last call was with school to report she was ill. At least school isn't going to suspect anything for a while...
A while. That is all it was, a while. Soon, people would miss her, then she would be reported as missing, then the police would make investigations of it, find a cat in the house that doesn't belong there, and then they would state that she was a runaway kid. And in the end, nobody would know what had happened to her. Blythe shuddered at the thought.
She didn't want to think about what her father then must go through. And yet, it seemed to her like that was the most probably outcome of all this. She blinked for a moment, and then looked at her alarm clock again. 8:12 AM. The pets are probably already over at the pet shop.
Blythe took a deep breath, and began thinking about her options. She could try to stay in here and hope it would wear off soon. She would have a hard time with what is in the kitchen, but she could probably survive on all the stuff that cats could eat. Now, what did we have again that I could eat? Some meatloaf, some milk and a couple of sardines... maybe some candy as well.
No! Bad idea! I could not last over a day. And I don't want to make a mess of things while trying to get the milk in a bowl or something... and I don't think I will last long on M&M's and potato chips. She had other options though. What if I can persuade Mrs. Twombly that I'm really me?
Going to Youngmee, Sue or anyone else at this point was quite hard, but Mrs. Twombly seemed to be the best option. No one would be baffled that there is a new cat in the pet shop, and Mrs. Twombly of course would be the best person who can deal with this.
In any case she would handle it better than Jasper...
She smirked as she thought that. Jasper and Sue really wouldn't be the best options; not just because they probably wouldn't be able to handle it, but also because having a new cat would get some questions from people.
That, and of course the question if their parents would allow it.
Mrs. Twombly it is, then.
Telling Mrs. Twombly that it is her wouldn't be hard - she just had to write "I am Blythe" somewhere. Or just speak to her. Wait, what if I can still talk?
Blythe tried to talk. "Hello? Can anyone hear me?"
She heard herself say it, but they came out like simple yowls.
So much for that option.
Blythe sighed. She knew she had to go downstairs and face the music. She left her mobile phone at her desk and went downstairs via the dumbwaiter. She had little difficulty doing so. She considered that wasn't actually very strange. The pets were able to do it, so why not me?
When she got downstairs, she saw that all of them had arrived and were watching TV. All except Minka, who was busy on her newest artwork. Blythe slowly walked into the room. After a few seconds did Minka take note of her.
"Oooohh we got a new visitor!" Minka exclaimed. She immediately went over to the cat and began inspecting her. "She's amazing!"
When the other pets turned around, they immediately knew who it was before their eyes. The only one who didn't realize it was Minka. "Oohh... what's your name? Is it Pringles? Are you made of chocolate with that brown coat?"
"Minka - " Blythe said.
"Do you like paintings? Have you ever been to Icelandia?" Minka rambled on.
"MINKA!" All the pets - and Blythe - shouted to get her to stop.
"What...?" did Minka say, startled.
"Minka, dear, can you not realize that this is Blythe?"
"Blythe?" Minka said. "Of course this isn't Blythe. Blythe had that really awesome werewolf-party last night where she had those ears and those teeth and those gloves and this cat over here," she said while pointing at Blythe, "...only has the same coat color as Blythe's hair and the exact same eyes..."
It took a while before Minka got the full picture.
"Eeek! Eeek! It IS Blythe!" Minka shouted. She then started to bounce around the room. "Why did no one tell me?!"
The pets rolled their eyes or just facepawed.
Penny Ling then turned to Blythe. "So you really DID turn into a cat..." she said, filled with curiosity and compassion. "How do you feel, Blythe?"
"Ehm," Blythe said, trying not to hurt the Panda's feelings, "Pretty fine, I guess. Thanks for asking."
Blythe then turned to the door. "I've got to talk to Mrs. Twombly, guys," she said. "I need to find a way to become myself again, and I hope that Mrs. Twombly can help me in the meantime."
Hopefully, she thought as she went through the cat flap.
Vinnie, who had heard everything Blythe said, of course had to state his opinion. "Why does she want to be a girl again? We have been pets all our lives and we are doing just fine!"
"You did NOT just say that," Zoe sternly said to him.
"What? It's true!"
"Let me make you an example; do you know how my life is so different since I failed the chance to become a model?"
"Ugh, tell me about it! We constantly hear you talking about all that!" Vinnie countered her.
Zoe wanted to slap the gecko, but decided not to. "Well, she has it a hundred times worse! Do you realize that that girls' life is now completely thrown away? All the possibilities she had to get further into fashion, her caring for us, her love from her father an her friends and who knows what else?!"
That made the little gecko think about what he said. "Now, if you put it that way..."
"Exactly! And we have got to find a way to get her back to normal! We owe that to her!"
Sunil then interjected. "But... how are we going to do that? I seriously have no clue where to start!"
Zoe felt silent. She knew that Sunil was right. They had zero leads on where to go next.
Hopefully Blythe could persuade Mrs. Twombly that it was really her in that cat body.
"Oh no, Fisher Biskit! Not this time! This time I will get that doorknob!" Anna Twombly shouted to her laptop. "This one is MINE!" She quickly went over her keyboard to make the final purchase. "Mwuahahahaha!" she manically laughed.
Blythe shuddered a bit from seeing her like that, but she was used to Mrs. Twombly's weird actions that she did sometimes. Her only concern was that she was so big. The other pets came at eye height - except for Penny Ling who was obviously larger than her - but Mrs. Twombly was a giant!
Are all humans that intimidating to pets? Blythe thought. Then again, the pets seem to be okay with it. Maybe I just need to get used to it.
She looked at her surroundings. Now I need to find a way to draw a message to Mrs. Twombly...
Blythe realized that she didn't really have a plan of sorts on how to deal with this. Nonetheless, she reckoned drawing a small message saying 'I am Blythe' shouldn't be too hard.
"Yes! Yes! I have it! Got you now, Fisher Biskit! This time, I am victorious!"
Mrs. Twombly was so preoccupied with her victory that she didn't notice he small brown cat walking next to the cash desk. This allowed Blythe to get up on there. She then noticed that there was a small bag of powder on the cash desk.
Perfect. Now, Mrs. T., hold tight for a moment...
Blythe gracefully jumped on top of the cash desk and pulled the bag of powder open. Mrs. Twombly was só excited about her doorknob-victory that she didn't know that there was a cat right next to her. Blythe, as quickly as she could, wrote the message 'It's me, Blythe' with the powder. What kind of powder is this, anyway? After she was done, she allowed herself to look on the bag. It said 'Pet Washing Powder'
They're making washing powder for pets now? What the huh?
Blythe didn't get much of the stuff on her, except for her right hand - or, right front paw. Well, at least I'm still right handed... she thought as she examined her paw.
Mrs. Twombly, now out of her victory-crapulence, noticed the cat on the cash desk. "Well, hi there sweetie!" she then noticed the powder and the drawing the cat made. "Well, that isn't really nice of you. I guess I should put you in the daycare. But what a nice drawing you made!"
Mrs. Twombly took a good ten seconds to look at the 'drawing', but didn't seem to get that Blythe actually had written something there. What the what? Blythe thought. How does she not notice that? She then noticed she was being picked up by Mrs. Twombly. "Well then, aren't you a cutie!" Mrs. Twombly inspected the cat for a second. "No collar, no chip, no tattoo... but no, you're not a tramp either, aren't you, sweetie? No, you have been very well looked after!" she then dragged the cat to the daycare. "But I really need to tell your owners they actually need to check you in first..."
Blythe protested. "But it's me! Blythe! Can't you recognize me?"
"Now, there," Mrs. Twombly tried to comfort her, "there is no need to meow like that. It's a really nice place here and the other pets are really nice too, you'll see." she then looked into Blythe's eyes. "Huh. Those eyes remind me of someone."
Yes! Me, of course! Blythe thought. But she knew there was no way to convince Mrs. Twombly that it really wás her. And at the end of the day everyone will be picked up - except me.
I'll need a new plan.
Mrs. Twombly opened the door to the daycare. "Hello there, sweeties! You'll have a new guest today! I don't know her name though, but I'm sure you can get acquainted." She put Blythe down and then went back to her cash desk.
"I guess it didn't work?" Russell asked as soon as Mrs. Twombly left.
Blythe nodded.
"What we need to do is come up with a plan! We need to find clues on how to solve this!" Russell stated.
"But what can we do?" Blythe asked. "I'm hardly a detective or something."
"But I am!" Russell answered.
"Huh?"
Before Blythe could react properly to what Russell said, everything suddenly transformed. All of a sudden she wasn't in the pet shop anymore, but in what seemed to be Victorian London. When she looked at herself, she seemed to be wearing a dress and a hat - she was still a cat though.
The other pets were here as well - all of them wearing Victorian clothing.
"I'm Cyril McFlip once again, and here to discover why Blythe is now a cat!" She heard Russell sing.
What the huh?
"No human can help her, but this pet has some tricks in his head!"
What is going on?
"Welcome to our fantasy, Blythe!" Minka whispered in her ear. The monkey then went away as quickly as she appeared.
In the meantime, Russell continued with his singing. "Just yesterday morning nobody noticed anything that would lead to Blythe's demise,
but then she became a cat right before our very eyes!
She's our very best friend, and for her we'll find a way,
even if for the answer we would have to go very far away!"
Then suddenly Blythe heard a choir made out of the female pets.
"Cyril McFlip! Cyril McFlip! He always gets to the bottom of it! He can solve any mystery, for he's the best detective in history!"
Blythe was now utterly confused as to what was going on.
"What we need to consider, my friends, " Russell continued, "is that this may have happened before!
Maybe it happened before there even was a pet store!"
Blythe had heard the pets sing before - even Youngmee and her mother sang a song once - but she never saw anything like this. It felt like she was really in London, not still in the pet shop where the pets were just singing like normal.
"Maybe Blythe's ability to talk to animals has got something to do with this!
That surely is something we cannot dismiss!"
The rest of the song was hard to follow for Blythe - she just took in the scenery and the clothes that the pets were wearing, trying to make any sense of what was going on. And she, despite not trying to pay attention to it, enjoyed the catchy tune that the pets had too.
I'm definitely not in Downtown City anymore...
"...for he's the best detective in history!"
As sudden as the fantasy had begun, it ended.
It looks like I'm back in the pet shop. Blythe blinked to make sure she was back in reality. The dress was gone, so that seemed to be true. I think I'm back.
"Fear not, my dear pets!" Russell stated, almost with a triumphant tone. "For I have a plan!"
He took his notepad and started writing something on it. "I think I may have the answer to all our problems!" He then turned to Blythe. "And Blythe?"
"Hmm?"
"I am going to need your help to let this plan succeed!"