I woke up to find I was somewhere else. I looked down, and discovered that I was now laying on a soft, padded cat bed. Barry must have gotten one. I looked up to realize that this was more of an igloo than just a cushion.

I stretched, and walked out of the small home. I looked around to try and tell where I was, and noticed that Barry had also gotten a cat gym.

I tried it, and turns out it's very entertaining. I was climbing a ladder when Barry walked in. He smiled, and had a tray with two cups. I jumped off, and started heading to Barry, halfway there shifting back.

I took a cup, lifting it to my lips, "Good morning."

Barry nodded as he took a deep sip of hot chocolate. I sat down on the couch, and curled up against Barry, who was starting to sit beside me.

"What do you want to do today?" I whispered.

"Mmmm, nothing..." Then he stiffened, "Well, escaping."

I woke up more fully to process what he said. Although that sounded best, I really just wanted to relax. I had been here for nearly a month.

"Where do we start?" I wondered. What do you do to escape a place like this?

"Well, do you want to see if Lizzie and Nicole are on board?"

I nodded, and we finished our drinks in silence.

We walked around the front yard, and I realized that I had never been in the backyard. That was something I wanted to check out later.

"Should we stop by the pond?" I asked. The pond in question was the ones with our bodies. I shivered at the thought.

Barry solemnly nodded, and we began heading in its direction. We reached the water's edge, and I we stood there for an eternity. Steam drifted off the surface of the still water, no one was awake. Then Barry dove into the water, and I slipped in after him. I didn't want to shift, so I simply swam to the cave, where Barry was hovering. But, the bodies were gone. I looked into the cave, yet still there was nothing.

Why were they gone? Barry pointed upwards and I ascended after him. We splashed out of the warm water, and Barry began to speak.

"Maybe they aren't gone."

"What do you mean?" I was confused.

"Invisibility." I dove underwater once more as quickly as I could. I made myself invisible, and the bodies suddenly appeared. Barry swam after me and I included him in the invisibility. Only invisible people can see other invisible things.

We headed into the cave, and grabbed Barry's body. We hauled it out, but it was much heavier than we thought. I shifted into a bear, but made my size increasingly larger, and hauled the body out of the water.

I went back under the water, now about the size of a human bear. I hauled out my body, and decided to leave Lizzie and Nicole. Once I was out of the water, I shifted back. Barry came up out of the water close after.

I walked towards my human counterpart, and stared down at its - my - frozen face. I reached my hand out, and brushed my cheek, cold but soft. Then I had a shock.

There was a bright flash and I squinted my eyes before opening them once more. I must have fallen, because I was laying down. I sat up, and looked over to Barry. Barry's eyes widened and he took a few steps back. It seemed to be that he was next to me, he must have gotten here fast. I opened my mouth, and I coughed as it was full of water. I noticed Barry was small, and my eyes widened to their full potential.

I looked to my side, and there, lying on the ground, was my gnome.

I nearly passed out. But I continued coughing until all the water was out of my lungs. I started to speak, and my voice was hoarse and raspy.

"What..."

Barry's voice was small and high pitched, "Well, that's interesting."

He walked back towards my gnome, and touched it slightly, and I felt it on my actual skin.

"I feel that." My voice was warming up, and seemed deep and louder than what I was used to. I laid on my back in exasperation. This was freaky and scary. Barry walked up to me, and placed his hand on my arm. I looked up at him, and he looked down at me.

Barry then walked over to his human counterpart, and touched it as well, and after a minute, the body came to life and he began coughing up water like I had.

Once he finished, he stared at me in bewilderment. Barry was even more handsome like this, his wild hair falling around his deep brown eyes. He opened his mouth, but only a rasp came out. I looked back at my gnome, and reached to touch it.

Another flash came, but it was less violent this time. I got up to find myself a gnome once again. I walked over to Barry, but before I could react, he picked me up, staring at me wildly.

"Put me down," I squeaked, now unfamiliar with my voice, "I'm not a toy."

He did as I told him, the reached for his gnome. In a moment, he got up and came to me.

"We need to hide these," he said, pointing to the bodies, "But not back in the water."

I shifted to a full-sized bear again, and lifted myself up without changing bodies. I guess I needed to be in my normal form. Besides, I doubt that if I was my human self, I would be able to walk to the hiding spot. I looked to Barry for where they should go.

"Follow me." Barry set off at a slow jog, and I followed slowly. He set off on a winding path, for no apparent reason. Then he formed a deep hole, and motioned to it.

I slowly lowered the body into it, and ran back for Barry's. Once he was in the hole as well, Barry closed the hole and put a strange rock on top to mark it.

Once I regained my composure, I began to run to Lizzie's house. In fear and excitement, I explained our discovery as Barry came up behind me.

Her eyes increasingly widened with the story. I was honestly in shock, so I didn't react or remember much.

Nicole was at Lizzie's house within minutes of us arriving as well. She looked like she had run through a tornado to get here. Her hair was riddled with twigs, mud was everywhere, and her clothes were torn up.

"What happened to you?" I was actually very curious of what had happened.

She shrugged, "Fell out of a tree," I looked at her skeptically, "A tall tree that happened to be right above a mud puddle."

I sighed as I ran my hands through my hair. Nicole was... a troublemaker. That must be why I liked her so much.

I relayed what Barry and I had found with her, but her expression didn't become sad like Lizzie's did. In fact, she seemed to get more excited with our words.

"OMYGOSHTHISISINCREDIBLYAMAZING!" She blurted, "IDIDN'TTHINKTHATIWOULDESCAPEBUTNOWTHATMIGHTBEAPOSSIBILITY"

I firmly put my hands on her shoulders in an attempt to stabilize her from jumping around. She took a deep breath, and I looked her in the eyes.

"Calm down. We don't know anything for sure yet." There was the fact of the barriers, which would be harder to tackle. But, I was ready to take this slow.

Nicole took a slow rattling breath, and came back into focus. Then she went to crazy excitement once again.

I shifted her to a baby sloth, hoping to calm her down as she wrapped around my wrist. She quickly closed her eyes as she slept contentedly. I sighed, glad that she was relaxed.

Lizzie spoke up, "Well, this is great, but I just don't think I'm ready to get excited about this."

I nodded, I understood what she meant. I really didn't feel like going into this further than I had today. I just wanted to walk on all fours.

I began to walk outside, and I set Nicole on a low tree branch. She merely opened her eyes for a second, and then closed them, getting a better hold on the branch. I turned my head, and saw Barry hiding in the bushes, like someone was about to attack him. He looked up at me then at Nicole, before standing up awkwardly.

"What was that?" I pondered.

"You haven't seen Nicole when she gets excited. It's worse than when you have candy late at night."

"Wrong. Nothing is worse than that," I corrected, "And I only had fifty candy bars and three fundips. . ."

"Well, you began talking crazy. Fine, that was worse than Nicole."

The debate dropped as we stood in silence. Barry put an arm around my shoulders and just watched the sloth rest. I looked up at Barry, and he directed his attention to me.

I smiled before changing into a wolf, standing at Barry's height.

I barked softly, and my eyes looked at him pleadingly. He pet my head timidly, and I looked at Lizzie, who was staring at me with wide eyes as she came outside.

I crouched down, and looked up at Barry expectantly and then pointed my head at my back. He put pressure on my back and looked at me with wide eyes. I nodded. He hitched a leg over my back and carefully lowered himself onto me.

I stood up fully, and once I was sure he was holding on tight enough, I accelerated until it was impossible to see what was happening on the sides of me. We reached a hill, and I climbed, to find a rocky wall with many vines. As I reached them, I used my muzzle to move them, since I smelled water behind it. I walked slowly through, and saw a safe haven.

A waterfall cascaded into a large pond, and in it held multicolored koi, some in shades I had never seen before. I soared down the hill, and Barry's grip increasingly tightened.

I slowed as we reached the water's edge, and I stuck my face in the water, the cold was refreshing, and I drank some of it.

I lifted my head, and lowered myself to the ground. Barry slid off, and sat beside me, rubbing his hand through my fur. He looked over at me.

"You are a magnificent animal."

"Do you mean as in wild, or wonder?" Barry gave no response to my incomprehensible barks and growls.

Barry slipped off his shoes and socks, and stuck his feet in the water, sending ripples through it, only to be broken by the waterfall's more powerful waves. The koi swam by, with graceful movements that made me calm and relaxed.

I draped a paw into the water, and moved it around aimlessly. I laid down my head, and closed my eyes in my state of peace.

Barry leaned against me, draping both his arms over my back. I opened my eyes to see what he was doing, and then closed them once more. His warmth spread softly through me.