I stared at my screen and the message that Gabe had written: Hey. Where are you?

It wasn't much— the barest of greetings and a vague calling-out of the fact that I had almost definitely missed dinner this evening. I glanced up at the clock in the corner. 9:43. Yep, I'd definitely missed dinner. If I hurried, I could probably make it before the cafeteria closed at ten, but who was I kidding? Even if I could get there on time, there was no way they'd let me in.

Still, the idea that had started forming when I read that message was now coalescing into a plan. It wasn't a very good plan, but it was the best I had. And at this point I literally had nothing to lose.

I swiped vaguely at my phone's screen. I didn't really expect it to unlock, but I was still really hoping. So when it actually worked, I was ready to shout for joy.

Bhnd Eng build, I wrote. It was ugly as hell, and it must have taken a full five minutes to do it. What can I say? Typing with no thumbs and pretty inflexible fingers was a whole new challenge. I just hoped Gabe would understand it.

Where? The Engineering building? Gabe wrote back.

I wanted to scream. Was he kidding me? How on earth was I supposed to know where the Engineering building was? I was an English major.

English, I typed. It was painstaking, and I had to hit delete at least six times to get the single word out. The worst part was that Gabe didn't even know the sheer amount of effort I was putting in here.

Really? Why? You coming over or what? Gabe typed back.

No. Come, I replied. Then for good measure I added, Hlp.

I stared at the phone intently, willing him to understand. And more importantly, to take me seriously enough to actually come out here. 

Finally, those ubiquitous three dots appeared on his side of the chat.

K, he typed.

Good. At least it looked like Gabe understood after all. Now all I had to do was wait.

I sat down on my shirt, not wanting to lay in the dirt. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of a deep-red something that came up to about my shoulder. It took me a minute to realize it was my shoe. I had to say, I really didn't like the feeling of being so small.

As I waited for Gabe, I tried to keep my mind occupied. I was afraid I'd go crazy if I didn't. I pulled the end of one of my shoestrings closer to where I sat, noticing for the first time the intricate little diamond patterns it was woven into. How many were there? Was it six across? That seemed low. I pulled it towards my nose, using my new claws to grip it as I counted again.

The next time, I counted seven. Great. Well, that was fun. I went to drop it back onto the ground and found myself struggling to retract my claws. Finally, I managed to let go and turned my attention to my paw. Clearly, I was going to need some practice with these things. I was going to get my body back, I knew that. But I couldn't afford to be completely useless before I did.

I practiced grabbing that string and letting it drop. Sometimes, I'd use my claws, and sometimes I'd keep them retracted. It wasn't until the fifth or sixth time I'd batted it away that it really hit me: I was playing with a shoestring. And not only was I playing with it, I was acting like it was the height of entertainment. The thought stopped me cold.

I scooted away, eyeing the thing like it had somehow tricked me. I sat up as straight as I could, chin in the air as I tried to regain some of my dignity. Then, I glanced quickly around, trying not to look too obvious about it. At least no one was here to witness that.

Where was Gabe anyway? Surely, he'd be here soon. I peered down the alleyway. It was dark, but I could see surprisingly well. And yeah, that fact was a nice surprise. Still wasn't worth the rest of this though.

As I stared off in the direction of the dorms, waiting for Gabe and trying to keep my mind from wandering back to that shoestring, something else caught my eye. That strange black cat with the pink eyes was stalking straight towards me. Of course, its face was at eye-level now. And I know, everything was way bigger than it should have been. But somehow, seeing a living, breathing animal as tall as me was a whole new kind of scary.

I immediately stood up, trying to smother a scream. But as a cat, standing didn't exactly change my height. And with it standing so close, I could see that there was a decent chance this cat was actually a little bit taller than me. It was definitely bulkier than I was.

So now, a cat that was bigger than me and actually knew how to use its claws and teeth was way too close for comfort. I took a few awkward steps back, stumbling slightly as I did. What I was supposed to do? There was no way I could outrun it— I could barely coordinate my own limbs enough to back up. And I couldn't pretend I wasn't afraid of it: I'd followed it down a side street and it had cast some sort of spell on me. The thing was clearly more powerful than I could ever hope to be, in pretty much every way.

The next thing I knew, a strange, low yowl was coming from my throat— the kind of noise a mangy little fluffball made to announce that it was getting ready to mess up your day. It sounded surprisingly intimidating, even to me. The black cat froze. Slowly, it sat down, tilting its head to the side. It actually looked amused.

"Ok, ok. You're upset. I get it," the cat said. He had a deep, rich voice that pretty definitively marked him as male.

I stopped growling. Did that cat just talk? Clearly, I really was going insane.

"My name's Comet," the cat said. "What's yours?"

Naturally, I replied with a wide-eyed, slack-jawed expression. Well, what would you have done?

"Nothing?" Comet seemed to shrug. "That's fine. The reason you're here is because we need your help. We need you to—"

I didn't wait for the strange cat to finish whatever he was talking about. All I knew was that he'd just admitted he'd done this to me and then had the nerve to ask for a favor. There was not a single thing in this universe that he could ask that I would be willing to do.

I'd planned on laughing derisively in his face, maybe scoffing and rolling my eyes. Then, I'd give him some biting remark that made him slink away with his tail between his legs. Instead, I let out a hiss.

Comet stopped, mid-sentence. I wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, but it clearly wasn't that. It hadn't been what I'd expected either. And it was so cat-like that it was actually kind of embarrassing. But it did knock Comet off-balance. I tried to take comfort in that.

"Can you talk?" Comet asked, tilting his head to the side again. His ears flattened in a way that almost looked...concerned.

I opened my mouth, but I didn't make a sound. The truth was, I didn't know. And I didn't want to know. Because so far, the only sounds I'd managed seemed way too feline, and— if I'm being honest, here— a little feral. And if the answer was yes, that I talked but like a cat, then my life as I knew it was over.

Comet didn't push the issue. Instead, he nodded his head almost sympathetically.

"That's ok," he said. "It might take a few days for you to get...acclimated."

But I didn't want to get acclimated. I wanted to be changed back. I started shaking my head and opened my mouth to tell him just that.

"Evan?" someone called out. "Hey! Evan?"

Comet pricked his ears up and turned towards the sound. I found myself doing the same. Gabe was hurrying down the street, Olivia on his heels.

Oh, thank god! I'd never been more relieved to see anyone in my life.

"Evan?" Gabe called again, looking around.

"Here!" I yelled, without thinking. I stood up on my back legs and put my front paws in the air, trying to get their attention. I fell back onto my clothes before they even noticed.

"Give him a call," Olivia said.

Gabe nodded, pulling his phone out of his pocket. I can't say for sure, but I may have shrieked when the phone sitting right next to me started going off. The thing was loud.

Gabe and Olivia turned in my direction.

"There!" Olivia said, pointing.

The two rushed over.

"Hey!" I said, looking up. I'd thought I'd be filled with relief, but I wasn't.

They were both so tall; it was kind of scary to realize that I didn't even come halfway up to my best friend's knee anymore. They started looking down at me, and I scooted back awkwardly, first with hind legs, then front. I was sure it looked stupid, but I was suddenly more worried about them stepping on me than I was about what a cool cat I was.

"Gabe!" I called.

Gabe just stared with a kind of weird expression on his face. I didn't blame him; I was sure I'd have the same look on my face if I'd found him like this. I was trying to think of exactly what I was going to say. The explanation that a bunch of cats surrounded me in the alleyway and did magic seemed to be a bit lacking somehow.

Olivia knelt down to me before picking me up and pressing me close to her chest. I wondered vaguely what Gabe thought about me being in his girlfriend's arms like that. But when I looked down and saw the skyscraper-height I was suddenly at, I decided I didn't care. I gripped onto her arm, trying not to look down.

"Don't worry," Olivia murmured craning her neck towards my ear. "It'll be ok."

I nodded to myself. At least I had friends here to help me.

Gabe knelt down, grabbing up my wallet. He flipped quickly through it before looking back at Olivia and me.

"Liv..." Gabe said slowly. "It's Evans's wallet."

Well, of course it was. Those were my clothes, my backpack, my phone. Why wouldn't it be my wallet?

"Something bad happened here..." Gabe said, sounding worried.

"Yeah," I agreed. But, hadn't that been obvious since the moment they saw me standing there?

"We need to go to the police."

Wait— what? What did Gabe think the police were going to do? Did they have a de-cursing unit that I'd never heard of? Or would they just arrest all the cats in the area and take them in for questioning?

"No," I said. "Gabe–"

"And leave that stupid cat here," he added, giving me a look of annoyance.