Transformed [W&W Book 1]

Chapter 10

"Done playing?" her mother asked curiously, her blue eyes gentle as she inspected her daughter.

"I guess so," Theresa said. "Is climbing trees proper etiquette?"

Her mother smiled, "I suppose not. Besides, you could get hurt."

"I suppose." She shrugged.

"What's wrong?"

"Why's Aunt Francine so mean?"

Her mother rubbed Theresa's back. "What did she do?"

"She told me not to climb trees."

"Ah. She's just worried about you."

"She said that a lady must always act with decor... decortium?"

"Decortium?"

"She said it means proper etiquette."

"Ah, of course. Decorum. Well, I suppose that sometimes your aunt can be a bit brisk. We mustn't be too hard on her, though. She hasn't had an easy life. And she is a very busy lady. She's busy helping your father with business with the king."

Theresa nodded her understanding. "Is that important?"

"Very important," her mother agreed.

"I wanna play!" Daphne demanded, interrupting them.

Theresa watched her mother as she turned to Daphne. "You must finish—oh, you're all done. You still must ask nicely, Daphne."

"I wanna play, please mummy!"

"Very good. Go ahead then, Daphne. Just stay where mother can see you."

Daphne dashed towards the wide open spaces of the lawn.

"I asked Aunt Francine to pick flowers with me. She said no," Theresa complained.

"Aunt Francine has forgotten how to play, my dear."

"Perhaps I shall teach her."

Theresa thought that Aunt Francine would be nicer if she knew how to play. She always looked so serious.

"Perhaps you shall. Come along, let us all pick flowers together," Theresa's mother said, taking Theresa's hand in her own and following Daphne.

"We will make a nice bouquet for the supper table."

* * * * *

Theresa opened her eyes. She wondered briefly where the lawn had gone before she realized that she had been dreaming.

Had it been just a dream, or a long forgotten memory? Daphne was snoring lightly beside her. Theresa wondered if ladies were supposed to snore.

She stood up and stretched, the memory of her dream still clear in her mind.

Theresa knew now that Francine did not need to learn how to play; she already knew and her aunt's games were all unpleasant for her opponent.

There was but one window in the cozy little room and through it Theresa could see that the sun had already begun its journey across the sky. She did not feel tired any longer but she was famished.

She decided to see what the Wizard Jim was doing and perhaps find a way to communicate her hunger.

The she realized that the door was closed. She cursed her lack of hands and lay down on the mattress to wait for Daphne to wake up.

Daphne needed her rest. Theresa shut her eyes until she finally fell back to sleep despite her grumbling stomach.

* * * * *

"Theresa, everything is ready for us to leave."

Theresa cracked an eyelid and peered up at her sister. Daphne looked refreshed despite her grey tones and surprisingly energetic.

Of course, she had spent yesterday in the relative comfort of Jim's cabin while Theresa was still running in fear from dogs and wandering around the forest worrying and then spying on the cabin.

If only Theresa had known it was safe to walk in the front door.

A pang of pain in her stomach reminded her that she was hungry. Hopefully someone would remember to feed her. She stood up, and stretched. That felt good, at least.

"Come on, Theresa."

Theresa was irritated by Daphne's impatience but contented herself with a nasty feline glare.

"Don't give me that look. If you could talk, you would be saying the same thing," Daphne pointed out irritatingly reasonably.

That was hardly the point. Theresa glared harder at her sister. Daphne shrugged and walked out of the room. Theresa slunk after her, thinking about how hard her life was all the way to the kitchen.

Theresa's opinion changed abruptly with what she found awaiting her. On the floor, there was a bowl of rich milk that made her want to purr and there was another dish with something solid. It appeared to be chicken, blessedly cooked. She rushed forward and started eating.

"I should have found you more to eat last night," Jim said awkwardly. "All the excitement..."

"She'll be fine," Daphne said kindly. "We appreciate everything that you are doing for us."

Theresa wanted to give Daphne the tongue lashing she deserved. Because she could not, she simply continued to eat.

Daphne's description of her suffering as "fine" was frustrating but it was far more important to fill her stomach. Who knew when she would get a decent meal again? She had not forgotten about her new penchant for meals comprised of uncooked vermin and she did not want to give her cat self any excuses to indulge in that sort of revolting behavior.

And were she feeling reasonable with human vocal chords, she probably would have said something very similar to the wizard who was going out of his way to assist them.

When Theresa finished eating, she began to clean her fur as she surveyed the room.

The main room of the cabin was rather cozy. There was a sturdy table and chairs and a warm fireplace. There were multiple shelves along the wall stuffed neatly with odd things, jars and instruments that she could not identify.

There was a large mirror leaning up against one wall, between the solid wood table and some shelves.

She could not remember it sitting there the night before and she was surprised to see something so expensive in the possession of a commoner; although as a wizard, he was hardly a common commoner.

Theresa walked over to the mirror casually.

Even thought Theresa understood in her mind that she now inhabited the body of a cat; she was still startled at the reflection gazing back at her.

Once her initial surprise faded, she thought with a strange sort of detachment that she was a rather healthy looking cat. Only the colors of her hair and eyes remained from her human form, although the purplish tint of her eyes was gone to her warped vision.

She suddenly felt like crying, but she did not even have to try to hold them back. It seemed her cat eyes could not cry.

She also knew self pity would not help, but she could not stop the waves of misery that swept through her. She meowed softly.

Daphne broke into her thoughts, "We should go, Theresa."

Theresa nodded and turned away from her unfamiliar image in the glass.