The I.S. chose their buildings carefully. Nearly all of the offices on this street kept to a human clock and had been closed since Friday night. Traffic hummed two streets away, but here it was quiet. I glanced behind me as I slipped into the alley between the records building and the adjacent insurance tower. My heart pounded as I passed the fire door where I had nearly been tagged. I wouldn’t bother trying to get in that way. “See a drainpipe, Jenks?” I asked.
“I’ll check around,” he said, flitting ahead to do a little reconnaissance.
I followed at a slower pace, angling for the faint tapping of metal that I heard now. Thoroughly enjoying the rush of adrenaline, I slid between a truck-sized trashcan and a pallet of cardboard. A smile edged over me as I spotted Jenks sitting on the curve of a downspout, tapping it with his boot heels. “Thanks, Jenks,” I said, taking off my bag and setting it on the dew-damp cement.
“No problem.” He flitted up to sit on the edge of a Dumpster. “For the love of Tink,” he moaned, holding his nose. “You know what’s in here?” I flicked a glance at him. Encouraged, he said, “Three-day-old lasagna, five varieties of yogurt cups, burnt popcorn …” He hesitated, his eyes closing as he sniffed. “… south of the border style, a million candy wrappers, and someone has an almost unholy need for superchunk burritos.”
“Jenks? Shut up.” The soft hiss of wheels on pavement warned me into immobility, but even the best night vision would have a difficult time spotting me back there. The alley stunk so bad, I didn’t have to worry about Weres. Even so, I waited until the street was quiet before I dug in my bag for a detection spell and finger stick. The sharp jab of it made me jump. I squeezed the required three drops onto the amulet. They soaked in immediately, and the wooden disk glowed a faint green. I let out a breath I hadn’t known I had been holding. No sentient creature but Jenks was within a hundred feet of me—and I had my doubts about Jenks. It was safe enough to spell myself into a mouse.
“Here, watch this and tell me if it turns red,” I told Jenks as I balanced the disk beside him on the rim of the Dumpster.
“Why?”
“Just do it!” I whispered. Sitting on a bundle of cardboard, I unlaced my new boots, took off my socks, and set a bare foot on the cement. It was cold and damp from last night’s rain, and a small sound of disgust slipped from me. I shot a quick glance to the end of the alley, then arranged my boots out of sight behind a bin of shredded paper with my winter coat. Feeling like a Brimstone addict, I crouched in the gutter and pulled out my vial of brew. “Way to go, Rache,” I whispered as I remembered I hadn’t set up my dissolution bowl yet.
I was confident Ivy would know what to do if I showed up as a mouse, but she’d never let me live it down. The saltwater glugged nosily into the bowl, and I tucked the empty jug away. The screw top to the vial went plinking into the Dumpster, and I winced as I massaged another three drops of blood out of my throbbing finger. But my discomfort paled as my blood hit the liquid and the warm meadow fragrance arose.
My stomach clenched as I mixed the vial by hitting the side with a series of gentle thwacks. Nervous, I wiped a hand on my jeans and glanced at Jenks. Making a spell is easy. It’s trusting you did it right that’s hard. When it came down to it, courage was the only thing separating a witch from a warlock. I am a witch, I told myself, my feet going cold. I did this right. I will be a mouse, and I will be able to turn back with a dip in saltwater.
“Promise you won’t tell Ivy if this doesn’t work?” I asked Jenks, and he grinned, roguishly tugging his cap lower over his eyes.
“Whatcha going to give me?”
“I won’t lace your stump with ant killer.”
He sighed. “Just do it,” he encouraged. “I’d like to get home before the sun goes nova. Pixies sleep at night, you know.”
I licked my lips, too anxious to come up with a retort. I had never transformed before. I’d taken the classes, but tuition didn’t cover the cost to buy a professional-grade transformation spell, and liability insurance hadn’t allowed us students to sample our own brew. Liability insurance. You gotta love it.
My fingers tightened on the vial and my pulse hammered. This was going to really hurt.
In a sudden rush, I closed my eyes and downed it. It was bitter, and I swallowed it in one gulp, trying not to think of the three mouse hairs. Yuck.
My stomach cramped and I bent double. I gasped as I lost my balance. The cold cement rushed up, and I put a hand out to stop my fall. It was black and furry. It’s working! I thought in both delight and fright. This wasn’t so bad.
Then a sharp pain ripped through my spine. Like blue flame it ran from my skull to my backbone. I cried out, panicking as a guttural shriek tore my ears. Hot ice ran through my veins.
I convulsed, agony taking my breath from me. Terror struck me as my vision went black. Blind, I reached out, hearing a terrifying scrabbling. “No!” I shrieked. The pain swelled, driving everything from me, swallowing me up.
“Rache? Rachel, wake up. Are you all right?”
A warm, low, unfamiliar voice was a black thread pulling me back to consciousness. I stretched, feeling different muscles work. My eyes flashed open to see shades of gray. Jenks stood in front of me with his hands on his hips and his feet spread wide. He looked six feet tall. “Crap!” I swore, hearing it come out as a harsh squeak. I was a mouse. I was a freaking mouse!
Panic raced through me as I remembered the pain of transforming. I was going to have to go through it all again to turn back. No wonder transforming was a dying art. It hurt like hell.
My fear slowed, and I wiggled out from under my clothes. My heart was pounding terribly fast. That awful lavender perfume was thick on my clothes, choking me. I wrinkled my nose and tried not to gag as I realized I could smell the alcohol used to carry the flowery scent. Under it was that incenselike ash smell I identified with Ivy, and I wondered if a vamp’s nose was as sensitive as a mouse’s.
Wobbling on four legs, I sank down to a crouch and looked at the world through my new eyes. The alley was the size of a warehouse, the black sky above threatening. Everything was shades of gray and white; I was color-blind. The sound of the distant traffic was loud, and the reek of the alley was an assault. Jenks was right. Someone really liked burritos.
Now that I was facedown in it, the night seemed colder. Turning to my pile of clothes, I tried to hide my jewelry. Next time I’d leave everything at home but my ankle knife.
I turned back to Jenks, jerking in surprise. Whoa, baby! Jenks was hell on wings. He had strong, clearly defined shoulders to support his ability to fly. He had a thin waist and a muscular physique. His shock of fair hair fell artfully over his brow to give him a devil-may-care attitude. A spiderweb of glitters laced his wings. Seeing him from his size-perspective, I could see why Jenks had more kids than three pairs of rabbits.
And his clothes … Even in black and white his clothes were stunning! The hem and collar of his shirt was embroidered with the likeness of foxgloves and ferns. His black bandanna, which had once looked red, was inlaid with tiny shimmers in an eye-riveting pattern.
“Hey, Hot Stuff,” he said cheerfully, his voice surprisingly low and rich to my rodent ears. “It worked. Where did you find a spell for a mink?”
“Mink?” I questioned, hearing only a squeak. Tearing my gaze from him, I looked at my hands. My thumbs were small, but my fingers were so dexterous it didn’t seem to matter. Tiny savage nails tipped them. I reached up to feel a short triangular muzzle, and I turned to see my long, luxuriant, flowing tail. My entire body was one sleek line. I’d never been this skinny. I lifted a foot, to find that my feet were white with little white pads. It was hard to judge