by Kali Harper
“Who are you calling?” Sammy asked, glaring at my phone as I held it in front of me.
“Lance.”
Chapter Three
“There’s a fox in my bathroom.”
“Astrid?” Lance asked, sounding exhausted. “It’s one in the morning.”
“There’s a FOX in my bathroom,” I told him again, wincing when the fox banged into the door behind me.
“Wha… how did it get in there?”
“I put it there. Long story.”
“This is a prank, right? Are you trying to get back at me for a bad date?”
“No,” I said as heat brushed my cheeks, “and it wasn’t that bad.”
“So the fox…”
“Is real and… I think it’s Kat.” Please be Kat.
“You think?”
“Well, she isn’t exactly talking to me, but she isn’t answering her phone, either,” I told him, staring at the couch in my living room. The plush cushions called to me, but I didn’t feel right leaving the fox on its own like this.
“You have a fox in Maggie’s house?”
“My old house,” I corrected him, “and like I said, I think it’s Kat.”
“What do you want me to do?” I imagined him sitting up in bed and rubbing his eyes the way he always did when he was stressed.
“Can you come over? I need a second opinion.”
“You should call animal control.”
“Animal control?” I couldn’t send Kat to an animal shelter!
“It isn’t Kat,” Lance said, sounding so sure of himself I almost believed him. “The guy you want is outside of town. Davy Mills, you got that?”
“But… it isn’t a fox.”
“What do you want me to do? I can’t come over. I need sleep.”
“Can you call Adelle?” I asked hopefully.
“The Whisperer?”
“Please? Kat won’t talk to me. I think she might be stuck in her other form.” Adelle had spoken to Sammy before I had magic of my own. She had a way of communicating with animals, even the wild ones.
“There’s a chance it isn’t even her,” he reminded me, sounding more like Sammy by the second.
“Give me her number anyway.”
Once Lance rattled off Adelle’s number and ended our call, I debated between calling Adelle, waiting until morning, or calling the man Lance had mentioned before. Not wanting to send Kat—if it’s Kat—to the pound and not liking the idea of annoying someone else, I decided to wait. By five o’ clock I’d had enough, dialing Adelle first even though Sammy had a strong distaste for the feline shifter.
Not that it helped. When I finally got up the nerve to call, she refused to answer. Going down my list of contacts, I dialed Kat for the millionth time and even tried Joe at The Laughing Bean to see if Lance had dropped by for breakfast. No one answered my calls, including Lance.
“What on Earth is going on?” I asked, staring at my phone once I reached the end of the list. “I guess I need to call Mr. Mills after all.”
“Wait a bit,” Sammy said, nuzzling my arm. “You really think it’s Kat?”
“I do.”
“Then we wait.”
“For what?” It was already morning and she was still a fox.
“For whatever this is to wear off.”
By mid-morning, Sammy and I slept maybe an hour between us. If I wasn’t sitting outside the bathroom door talking to Kat as though she could understand me, I was in the kitchen making a cup of tea. I probably should’ve kept the place stocked full of coffee, because chamomile, peppermint, or even the breakfast blend didn’t cut it.
Beside me, Sammy curled up even more, resembling a tight ball of fur with ears. Smiling, I draped one of the blankets over him and rubbed between his shoulders, which resulted in his patented motorboat purr as he leaned into me.
Even with the heat on, the cold October air seeped under the door and between the floorboards. I knew it was drafty but hadn’t realized how bad things were until I’d moved in with Maggie. Or her ghost, anyway.
“Sleep well?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
“Terrible,” he grumped, cracking open an eye while keeping to his ball-like form. “Besides, we familiars never sleep.”
Doubt it. I’d caught him dozing off more than enough times to know he slept.
“I haven’t heard her move for a while. Do you think she’s asleep?” Sammy asked with a yawn.
Listening for movement on the other side of the bathroom door, I couldn’t decide if I was relieved or concerned when all I heard was dead silence. “I hope so,” I finally said, not moving from where I was. “Maybe now things will go back to normal.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure.” He lifted his head, swiveling his ears from side to side. “It smells like Kat, but something’s different about her.”
“You could sniff her out and you didn’t bother to mention it last night?”
“She was wild. She smelled like any other fox to me,” he explained as he got to his paws.
“And now?”
“It’s Kat… I think. It’s hard to tell with all the other scents mingling with her own.”
Other smells? “What smells?”
“I don’t know, but something’s off.”
Shivering from the draft coming in under the front door, I wrapped a blanket around myself, then stood to face the bathroom. Not knowing what to expect once I opened the door, I was about to knock when the doorknob jiggled, scaring me half to death.
“Astrid? Are you out there?” It was Kat’s voice. She sounded almost as bad as we did. “I know this is your bathroom. Can you please tell Sammy to unlock the door? Why in the world did you guys lock me in here anyway? Astrid, can you hear me?”
“Should we let her talk to herself a while longer?” Sammy asked in a voice low enough so only I could hear.
“Sammy!” I said.
“What? We worried about her all night. Shouldn’t she process things on her own?”
“We? Worried?” Sammy never worried, especially not about anyone else unless it was me.
“You know what I mean,” he huffed. “Besides, shouldn’t you see what’s on the other side of the door before you let her out?”
“How am I supposed to see what’s in there if I don’t open it?” It didn’t matter if the lock was on the other side of the door. Sammy’s wards were more powerful and could’ve kept Kat inside for days.
“Astrid, I can hear you talking,” Kat cut in, not pleased with her current situation. “Could you at least say something so I don’t feel like I’m losing my mind?”
“Losing her mind, maybe she should try—”
I shot Sammy a glare, then released a breath once he removed his ward from the door. “I’m sorry, Kat. It’s been one of those nights.”
“Tell me about it,” she said with a nervous laugh. “Wait, don’t open it. I, uh… you still have some of the clothes I loaned you, right?”
Uh oh. “I do, but they’re at Maggie’s.”
“I’d hate to be a bother, but…” She trailed off.
“Wait a second. I thought you kept your clothes on you when you shifted,” I told her, remembering the first time I’d asked about it. At the time, she told me it was a trade secret. Then again, she never said where her clothes went.
“Not if I’m taking a shower,” Kat explained.
“You were showering that late at night?”
“Astrid, please. Can we do this after I have something on? It’s freezing in here. I could cut glass!”
I snickered, then waved Sammy’s look away when he was about to ask me what she meant. “Okay, I’ll be back in a minute. Just… don’t go anywhere.” To be safe, I nodded to Sammy so he could ward up the door again, then turned to leave.
“Where would I go?” Kat called after me, shuffling inside the bathroom before trying to doorknob again. “Seriously?”
“Can’t be too careful,” I called over my shoulder, joining Sammy outside where the
sun had already come up. The gentle rays warmed my back as I made my way across the property line. “Funny, you’d think if she was cold, she’d shift back.”
“Yeah, that’s the only strange thing around here,” Sammy said, running ahead of me before disappearing around the side of the house.
Knowing he’d use the cat door in the back to get inside the house before me, I couldn’t help wondering why. It wasn’t like he threw crazy parties while I was gone.
“I told Maggie to go over and keep an eye on her,” Sammy said once I walked through the front door. “You know, she was quite upset when we didn’t come to get her last night. She’s been worried sick.” He almost sounded like her!
“She’s a ghost, Sam. She could’ve come over whenever she wanted,” I said, heading up the stairs toward Maggie’s guest room—now my bedroom. “We had to stay over there in case Kat changed or woke up.”
“That’s what I said, but then she told me only one of us had to stay and… what’re you doing?” Sammy stopped his rant when I removed half my wardrobe from my closet. “She only needs one outfit.”
It was a good thing Kat and I wore the same size. Or, well, almost. I was one size bigger than she was, but we made it work.
“Most of these still have tags on them,” Sammy went on when I didn’t say anything. Then, as the pieces fell into place, he said, “You bought all of this junk for Lance? What happened to ‘I’ll wear what I always do?’”
“So I bought a few things,” I said with a casual shrug, removing a large bag from the back of my closet before piling the clothes inside. “I wasn’t sure what would look best.”
“I thought you borrowed something from Kat.”
I did. After I’d already gone through everything I owned.
“You humans sure have a way of complicating things.”
I agree. “Guys have it easy,” I said, shouldering the bag as I hung some of Kat’s clothes over my arm. “All they have to worry about is showing up.”
“And you don’t? You said it was just coffee,” he reminded me, repeating what I’d said over and over again to myself on my way to The Laughing Bean.
“Turns out it was.”
“But it could’ve been more?” Sammy sighed and followed me back down the stairs, stopping once I reached the front door. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Humans are weird.”
“At least I don’t lick my butt.”
“Jealous.”
Shaking my head to erase his last comment from my mind, I double-checked the clothing I’d gathered, then headed back over to the house. By the time I reached the bathroom door, Maggie had invited herself inside, quickly hovering through the wall once she did.
“Astrid,” she wailed, her form flickering, “Kat’s naked! Butt-naked!”
“I know, Mags. That’s what these are for,” I told her, holding up the bag of clothing along with the few items I had draped over my arm.
“Why on Earth is she naked? Shifters are never—”
“She was in the shower,” Sammy said with a sly grin.
“Oh. Well, get the poor thing into something warm before she dies of hypothermia.” Maggie hugged her arms around herself and shivered, though I doubted she felt the cold snap at all.
“Kat,” I said to the door between us, “I’m coming in.” Once I shooed Sammy out of the way, he dropped his ward so I could slip inside.
Kat sat on the toilet lid and shivered for warmth.
“Finally,” she said, her teeth chattering a bit as she took the clothing from me. Eying the bag slung over my arm, she smiled. “You went shopping without me?”
I averted my gaze and offered her what privacy I could, turning my back to her as I spoke. “I already got the third degree from Sammy.”
“No third degree intended.” She rummaged through what I’d brought, then went for the bag when I pulled it away. “What? Is there something in there you don’t want me to see? Oh, it’s naughty stuff, isn’t it?”
“No,” I scoffed, my face growing hot. “I need to return them.”
“Hmm.” Kat tapped her foot enough for me to notice. “If you bought them, there must’ve been a reason. Why not hold onto them? Just because Lance had to bail on your date, that doesn’t mean you won’t get a second chance.”
“It wasn’t for Lance,” I lied, my breath catching when I felt Kat staring at me. And she’s the one who’s naked!
“If you say so. There, all better.”
Shielding my eyes, I smiled when the woman in front of me was the same one I remembered. Wearing a more formal outfit than usual, Kat pulled her hair out from under the blue blouse and allowed the long tendrils to cascade over her shoulders.
“Come on,” she said, tucking the bottom of the blouse under her black slacks. “Let’s go back to Maggie’s to warm up.”
“I’m right behind you.”
Chapter Four
After making a fresh pot of coffee, Kat and I settled on the sofa in the living room and soaked up whatever warmth we could from the fire we’d started in the fireplace. I’d never used it before, but Maggie always had a fire going in the colder months. This, of course, pleased the cats as they sprawled out on the carpeting closest to the fireplace, the orange glow on their fur making me wish Maggie could join us instead of hovering around the living room as a ghost.
“I’ve missed this,” Maggie said, staring at the flames. “It’s lovely, isn’t it?”
I nodded. “It is. I love the smell of wood fire.”
“Me too,” Kat agreed, crossing her legs as she cradled a mug of coffee in her lap. “Thank you for letting us stay here, Maggie.” Kat couldn’t see her, of course, but she knew Maggie was around. As soon as Maggie possessed Ginger, the two of them talked about days filled with warm afternoon tea, Kat’s visits during the colder nights, and the years before I became a part of Emberdale’s tight-knit community.
It was nice watching them talk as though nothing had changed. The scene was so picture-perfect, I’d almost forgotten why we were here.
“Kat, what were you doing outside my place last night?” I finally asked, waiting for the perfect time to break the peace only to find there wasn’t one.
Kat’s smile from her earlier vanished, her brows pinched together as she considered my question. “It’s strange, but I don’t remember. It’s quite worrisome, actually. My fox and I are usually on good terms with one another.”
Kat went to great lengths to keep her fox happy, letting it run free in the house every night as it had a tendency to act out when she didn’t. She’d explained several weeks ago how not all shifters worked the same way, some fighting for dominance over their animal forms, which never ended well.
As for Kat, she was as mindful of her animal-half’s feelings as her own. Finding her fox in my yard last night, unable to speak, had me at odds on what to do next. Was her fox going to lash out? Would Kat attack someone without realizing it? What about Kyle’s cow? Was it killed by a wild animal or by a shifter at odds with its animal form?
“What do you remember?” I asked Kat as the crackling fire filled the silence between us.
She shook her head and stared at her coffee, tracing the rim of her mug with a fingertip. “It’s the strangest thing. I remember getting in the shower, soaping up my hair, rinsing, then waking up here. I couldn’t hear anything, and it was really dark until I found the light switch in your bathroom. That’s when I noticed the blue butterfly hanging on the wall. Why’s it over there anyway? I thought you liked it.”
“I do, but that bathroom has been its home for as long as I’ve owned it.”
“Anyway, once I realized where I was, I tried to remember how I got there. My fox was the only thing I could think of, but when I concentrate on her to shift, nothing happens.” Her voice shook as she spoke, and when she met my gaze, her eyes were full of tears. “I can’t feel her, Astrid. I know she couldn’t have gone anywhere, but I’ve always been able to sense my other form. I’ve even talked to her.�
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“Sammy, what do you think?” I asked him, not knowing what else to say. I hadn’t read up on shifters as there weren’t many living in Emberdale, but Kat had. So if she didn’t have the answers (the fanatic bookworm that she was), then maybe this was something else. Something new. Something that didn’t exist in spellbooks or shifter history.
Sammy shook his head, then paced in front of the fire as he spoke. “I’ve watched many generations come and go, but this is the first time I’ve heard of a shifter at odds with herself.”
“I’m not at odds,” Kat insisted, clutching her mug before taking a breath and removing some of the tension in her shoulders.
“What about Thomas?” I asked Sammy. “He and his dragon fought all the time.”
“They were two different beings in the same body,” Sammy explained. “As for Kat, she’s always been open to her other form, so this never should’ve happened.”
“But it did,” I said.
“Yes, though I can’t say why. I’m sorry, Kat. The pains you face—”
“It’s fine,” Kat said, choking back a sob as she stood to leave. “I should probably get to work. Folks will be wondering where I’ve gone.” She didn’t look at me, and when I tried to place a hand on her shoulder, she pulled away. “I’ll call you later, ‘kay?”
Frowning, I let my hand fall to my side. “Sure. But… if you need anything—”
“I’ll let you know,” she said, forcing a smile. “Thanks.” She set her coffee on the table without giving it another thought.
Walking her to the door, I resisted the urge to hug her when she looked right at me. Her eyes glistened with fresh tears and as I watched her walk across the lawn with her shoulders slumped, I wondered where my friend had gone. She looked like Kat and sounded like Kat, but the woman I talked to in my living room was far from the friend I’d grown to love.
“She’s lost the one friend she’s had her entire life,” Sammy told me as I closed the door. “There’s no coming back from that.”