Numbers

Chapter One

"Can you guys stop talking about me like I'm not here?" Josh got up and took a half step backwards towards the door. "And what's her name?"

"Oh," said the girl, "Right. I'm Thorn."

"There is no way that's your real name."

That made her laugh. "Okay, fine. Technically it's Thornette, but don't call me that if you want to keep your tongue. Believe it or not, my sister's name was Marilyn."

"Was?"

"She died." Thorn's ear twitched and Josh flinched. He hadn't realized it until now, but she had cat ears. He'd thought it was just a headband. "I... I'm sorry," he managed.

"It's fine. And I saw you flinch. Just warning you, everything you see is real. Ears to tattoos."

It was Mina's turn to laugh now. "She's covered in them. It's crazy," she said. "Now, have you noticed anything wrong with you lately? Not sure what we have in the medicine cabinet, but what dose you'll need is going to depend on what's wrong with you."

"I don't even know what you're talking about, okay? I think I need to go to the hospital."

Mina's face fell. "You're not kidding. You really don't know."

"What the fuck do you think I've been saying? Do your ears not work or something?"

She took a step back. This was going to be hard. She'd never had to explain this sort of thing before. "Well, you and I aren't exactly human."

"I'm pretty sure that's an either-or sort of thing," Josh cut in.

"False dichotomies. Life's full of them. And don't cut me off. Now, like I was saying, you and I aren't exactly human. We belong to a species called the psyane. I'm probably not explaining this right, but we're kind of like a mix between humans and cats."

"So like werewolves?"

Mina wrinkled her nose. "No. We have a lot more control over our transformations and we don't usually go around eating people."

"Usually?"

"It hardly ever happens. I can think of maybe one person who's done it. His name was Frank. It was years ago. Anyway, we can control our transformations without medicine unless we're sick, on our periods, or hurt- not like papercut hurt, like broken leg hurt. They're also really hard to control for the first like, week to a month after they start. I'm guessing this is your first?"

"Yeah...?"

"We can pick you up some meds this afternoon and I can start training you in a week. I know you're getting a late start, but I still have to report this to the High Council- that's our government- and then you need to make your debut into society."

Josh stood up, rubbing his temples. "What am I, a Southern Belle?

Thorn laughed now. She'd been quiet while Mina explained things, but now she jumped back into the conversation with a, "Now that, I'd like to see."

"Wait," Josh asked, remembering what Mina had said, "Is Thorn a psyane? What's up with her ears?"

Thorn flinched. "What's up with yours?"

Mina reached over and tried to pat Thorn's shoulder, but missed, stumbled, and ended up patting her side. "I'm sure he didn't mean it like that," she promised, glaring at Josh.

Realizing he'd screwed up, Josh stammered out an apology. "Uh... no, of course I didn't. Your... your ears are beautiful. You're beautiful. I'm just not used to seeing stuff like that."

Thorn rolled her eyes. "And I bet you think I'm so damned exotic, too. No, I'm not psysne. I'm what's called a nekoshinshi. We're pretty similar to psyane, but we can only switch between this form and a cat. We never look 100% human." Josh's foot started to turn in to a delicate paw about a quarter of its size, maybe smaller. Mina leaned over to catch him.

"Maybe you should sit down," she suggested. Thorn started back up. "We have a few extra abilities, buut we're usually thought of as less." Josh had turned full cat by now, and he was starting to shift back. Unfortunately for him, his clothes didn't change with him. Thorn slipped upstairs to grab a towel for him.

Mina sat on the couch next to Josh. He had started to go cat again without finishing the change. "Don't you climb on my lap," she warned. "We really need to get some meds in your system."

"I feel like I'm on drugs," he admitted. "Are your parents home?"

"No."

"Okay, good."

"Don't get any ideas."

Josh blushed so hard he snapped back to human. "No! No, um, I wasn't thinking about that. I was more worried about them overhearing that conver- oh my God!" The transformations were enough to have split his pants. They were badly torn at the knees, and the way the front had split made them unwearable. Mina looked at a photo collage on the wall that gave her an excuse to look away from Josh with her hand held over her eyes; Thorn had just walked in, but she just threw the towel at him and retreated out of embarrassment.

"O-kay," Mina said, still not looking at him. "I'm going to go get you a pair of my dad's jeans and see if I have anything I can give you to control it. Then we're going to your place to get you fresh clothes before we head to town for the medicine."