Freaked you guys out with the last chapter, hmm? Let me know if this one freaks you out too :)
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Baron sat up with a jolt and a small yelp escaped his lips. Trembling, he took several deep breaths, trying desperately to get the painful throbbing of his heart to slow down.
"It was just a dream," he mumbled, closing his eyes and passing a hand over his head.
He paused, then dragged his fingers through his fur again. Was his fur always that long?
No, of course not. The rush of adrenaline was messing with his mind he rationalized. His nerves were just shaken, that was all.
Although… he was almost positive his head fur wasn't that long. His heart thudding for a different reason, he repeated the action. It felt different too, a little softer than his fur normally was…
"No," he said firmly, shaking his head. Nothing was wrong. Belinda had just botched another spell, like she always did.
So why, when he shook his head, did tufts of fur brush his cheeks?
Baron's vision cleared, and he realized he was outside on a mattress. That explained the chilly air icing his skin…
Wait. Skin?
He leaped out of his bed, then immediately regretted it as his head threatened to spin off its axis. Pressing a clammy hand to his forehead, he groped blindly in the dark until his hand closed around a pole. Breathing heavily, his heartbeat erratic, Baron tried frantically to organize his thoughts.
He was outside. His head fur was longer. He had skin. His skin was cold.
Laughing nervously, hoping it was a nightmare and he would suddenly sit up in his warm bed inside his house, he let his knees buckle and collapsed to the mattress. With quivering hands, he gripped strands of fur on his head and discovered he could pull them to eyelevel. The strands were thinner than normal, and shimmered gold in the lightening sky.
Baron ran his hands over his head again, his movements unrestricted by pointed ears. He soon learned they had trailed down the sides of his head and were much smaller.
Closing his eyes, the hands drifted to his face and explored feverishly. Everything had changed. His nose was pointier and stuck out more, and his mouth was framed by plush, fleshy lips. His eyes were even a different shape. Smaller, and rounder, with tiny hairs growing out his eyelids. And… he had eyebrows. He'd never had eyebrows before.
Sweat trickled down his temples, and Baron was shocked that he could actually feel each individual rivulet as they slithered down and pooled in the dips of his neck.
Further down, across his collarbone and bare chest, he noted that, except for a smattering of coarser hair, his fur had completely vanished. This was not good.
His bare skin ended at his waist, where fuzzy fabric began. All the way down his slender legs, where the cloth ended and bunched at the top of his naked feet. Glancing down through cracked eyelids, he uncertainly curled the five toes he had on the end of his right foot. They cracked painfully.
Then he screamed.
"What have you done to me Belinda?!" he cried, clutching chunks of golden hair as his eyes practically bulged out of their sockets.
"What happened?! What's going on?!" Muta burst out the double doors of Baron's house and tumbled to the cobblestones, still half asleep. He pushed himself up and looked around until his eyes fell on Baron. Blinking several times, he clambered to his feet and hissed. "Who're you? Whadda ya want?"
"Muta it's me! Baron!" Baron protested.
The overweight feline crept over to him and poked his chest with a chubby paw. Baron winced as a claw came into contact with his flesh. Setting his front legs on Baron's thighs, Muta elevated himself until he was staring into Baron's slightly surprised green eyes. After a moment, the cat blinked, glanced side to side, then whispered, "Is that really you, Baron?"
"I swear on the angel food cake in my cupboard," he said solemnly, crossing his heart.
Muta hopped down and began circling him. "Hey Birdbrain, get down here!" he shouted at the stone pole Baron was still clinging to. The stone crow posed on the top glowed briefly before the rock melted away and a real crow stretched his wings. "What do you want Piggy Cat?" he said, glancing down from his perch. "Couldn't you see I was sleeping?"
"Get your feathery butt down here!" Muta snarled at the bird. "We have bigger problems than your beauty sleep."
The crow cocked his head. "No kidding," he remarked snidely
"What'd you say Birdbrain?!" Muta snarled. "Why don't you say that to my face?!"
"What? That you're a fat pig of a cat?" Muta's face turned purple as he hissed lividly at the bird and stuck up his paws.
"Muta! Toto!" Baron cried, losing patience with the two animals and their constant, endless battles. He was in serious trouble here! Didn't that matter?
Toto tore his attention away from the cat and looked to his distraught friend. "Oh my," he murmured before flying to Baron's house and entering through the balcony doors. He returned shortly, a hunk of shiny metal clutched in his beak. He fluttered over to Baron and dropped it in his palm. "What's Belinda done to you this time?"
Baron didn't hear him. Lifting the tiny mirror in his unusually large hands to his eyes, he gazed at his reflection.
It was exactly as he suspected. The golden hair, the rounded ears, the plush lips, the almond-shaped eyes. Once he got over the initial awe at his strangeness, he screamed.
"Belindaaaaa!!" he shouted, hurling the mirror across the square, causing Muta to flop to his belly to avoid it.
There was a crack, a burst of light, then the three were showered in glitter before the daffodil-haired fairy appeared before them. At a time like this, she's still unbelievably flamboyant, Baron thought bitterly.
Belinda yawned and fluttered her sparkly wings. "Jeez Baron, it's five in the morning," she grumbled sleepily, rubbing her eyes. "I'm not due to get up for at least three more hours."
"This is rather important," he hissed angrily, clenching his teeth.
The fairy blinked, then smiled brightly. "Oh, so you got your wish!"
"This is not my wish!" Baron protested, rising on his shaky legs to jab a finger in her direction. "Why would I ever want to be a human?!" Then Baron did something he never thought he would do.
He swore. Colorfully.
Being the bookworm he was, Baron had come across curse words many times over the years, yet he had never repeated them. Now he proceeded to mutter every one he knew, throwing in a few he wasn't so sure about for good measure.
After he finished, Muta, Toto, and Belinda gazed at him incredulously, and Belinda murmured, "Wow."
"Sorry," he grumbled, shoving his thick blonde hair out of his eyes. "Just change me back and—"
"I can't." The three turned to stare at her, but she shrugged. "Sorry Baron, there's nothing I can do."
"What do you mean?" Toto asked quickly, before Baron could start screaming, or swearing, again.
"I mean that I can't do anything," she said, folding her arms. "The spell's been cast, it's out of my control now."
"Are ya sure Chicky?" Muta glanced at the former half-cat and took a step back. "I don't think you should leave him like this."
"Well, he has no choice. He's stuck like that for a week."
As the news sunk in, Baron sank to his knees and let his head fall forward in defeat. Belinda sighed and flitted to his shoulder. "It won't be that bad Baron," she murmured, smoothing down his tousled hair. "Why don't you find that… that Haru girl?"
His head shot up. "Haru?"
"Yeah, isn't she a human?" He nodded. "Why don't you go find her, and hang out with her for a week, hmm? It's better than staying here for seven days. You can't even fit into your house." She smiled slightly. "Come on, what've you got to lose?"
Baron considered his options briefly.
He could stay here and mope for seven days. Or he could leave the Refuge, find Haru, and spend those seven days with her. He did miss her…
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"You're not from my kingdom, are you?" the Cat King snarled accusingly to my backside, our dance ended prematurely. "Exactly who are you?!"
"How rude of me. I should've introduced myself." Gazing into her innocent brown orbs, I casually tossed my feathered hat to the floor. "I am exactly who I appear to be." Reaching up, I pried the metal mask away and held it in my fingers. Her mouth formed a small 'o' of surprise, and I smiled warmly down at her.Then I spun around. "I am Baron Humbert von Gikkingen, and I have come for Haru!" I announced to the court.
"Baron!" she cried, obviously relieved as she threw her arms around my neck.
"He's so cool!" a brown cat with floppy ears exclaimed. Inwardly I rolled my eyes.
"He is handsome," the king's advisor said to His Majesty.
Perhaps that was a mistake on the advisor's part, because the king became very angry. "He can't have her!" he cried. " Seize them!" Guards appeared from behind the curtains and stalked toward Haru and I. I wrapped my cloak protectively around her as they approached.
One of the guards hurled several shuriken at us. Whipping my cloak back, I threw my mask. It knocked the shuriken away and easily sliced the handles off axes and spears before cracking a giant glass bowl containing violet jelly and my overweight companion. The jelly slithered out of the jar, taking Muta along with it, until he lay sprawled on the floor. "Oh, I'm stuffed!" he groaned. The poor maids standing beside the jar shrieked and dashed off.
I wound my arms around Haru's waist again, prepared to shield her with my body if necessary.Tears welled up in her eyes as she choked out, "Muta? You're still alive!"
Distracted for a moment, the guards charged toward him. Muttering under his breath, Muta climbed out of the gelatinous goo and turned to run. The noise volume in the room increased, and I noticed out of the corner of my eye the king being dragged away and the royal guests fleeing out a back door.
A spear was aimed straight for us, but I sidestepped it and it plunged into the floor. Several more struck alarmingly close, but I guided Haru's feet and we dodged them. Grabbing her hands, we climbed onto one of the tables and stood, her paws bunched in my tunic, as guards, wielding many unfriendly weapons, surrounded us. Just when I was sure I was going to have to take a bullet… er, stab… for Haru, Muta stumbled over and collapsed on the guards.
"Great technique Muta," Haru said, smiling. I grinned as well as he clambered to his feet.
"I just lost my balance," he replied flatly, stretching backward.
"Over here!" We turned, and saw a white cat crouched behind the table. She beckoned to us, so we hopped down.
"Yuki you're here!" Haru murmured happily to the cat.
The cat, Yuki, pulled off her maid's hat and held it in her paws. "I'm so thankful you were able to help Miss Haru, Baron," she said to me.
I furrowed my brow, and thought a moment, but I couldn't place a name to her face. "Do we know each other?" I finally asked.
"Many of us here know of you and your Bureau," she answered.
"Oh Yuki, I'm such an idiot! I should've left when you told me to," Haru moaned. "Now look at me." She touched her furry ears.
"Listen!" Yuki said, bringing Haru out of her depression. "If you leave by dawn you can still turn back into a human!"
Haru's eyes lit up. "I will?"
Yuki crawled over and pulled a handle on the legs of the table, revealing a secret door. "This will get you out of the castle."
Haru gasped, then paused and turned to me. "Wait, where's Muta?"
I peeked up over the table and gazed around the room, allowing enough space for Haru to slide past me and over to the secret exit. Muta was currently swinging from a chain stuck in the ceiling as guards ran around underneath him, swinging their weapons at his back legs.
Well, he wasn't dead yet, and he certainly wasn't the one changing species. I ducked back down and glanced toward my half-feline ward.
Haru looked so sad, yet at the same time incredibly determined. I smiled inwardly, knowingly, amazed at her fortitude. As she slipped out of her elaborate ball gown, she glanced back at me for an answer to her previous question.
"He'll be fine," I said confidently. " We just need to get you home."
She nodded, believing me. At that moment, as her tail disappeared down the shaft, I vowed that I would restore this brave girl back to her true form. No matter what.
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He made his decision. Belinda was right; what did he have to lose?
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