The puppy growled, a sound adorably unthreatening coming from such a small, fluffy body.
Mac's laughter shattered the shocked silence. "Please tell me someone has a camera!"
The puppy—Sam—lunged for Mac's ankle, tiny teeth sinking into his jeans.
"Ow! He bit me!" Mac couldn't stop laughing even as he tried to shake Sam loose.
Baba Yaga examined her spell components with mild interest. "Hmm. Interesting reaction. Smaller target is harder to hit. Working as intended!"
"Working as—" Delilah spluttered. "You turned him into a puppy!"
"Temporary side effect," Baba Yaga said, though she didn't sound entirely convinced. She backed toward the kitchen, a swirling portal suddenly appearing inside Sam's refrigerator. "Spell will disrupt Collector's pairing magic. Very effective camouflage."
"Change him back!" Delilah demanded.
Baba Yaga tossed a weathered spell book onto the couch. "Instructions inside. Probably. Coffee stain might be a problem." She stepped halfway into the refrigerator portal. "Good luck with puppy. Remember, no chocolate!"
And with that, she vanished, the refrigerator door swinging shut behind her.
Puppy-Sam sat in the middle of the circle, yellow eyes blazing with unmistakable fury.
"Well," Mac said, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes, "this is going to be interesting."
Morning sunlight streamed through Sam's cabin windows, illuminating dust motes dancing above the disaster zone of scattered spell components. Delilah rubbed her bleary eyes, having spent the night alternating between frantically searching Baba Yaga's coffee-stained spell book and watching Sam pace in tight, furious circles.
Sam sat at attention on the kitchen counter, yellow eyes narrowed with the same intensity they'd had in human form. The effect was somewhat undermined by his fluffy white fur and the fact that his tail kept twitching involuntarily.
"So," Delilah said, pouring coffee into a mug shaped like a wolf howling at the moon. "This is... not ideal."
Sam barked once, sharp and decisive.
"At least we agree on something." She slid onto a kitchen stool, studying him. "We need a system. One bark for yes, two for no, three for 'that's a terrible idea and we'll probably die.'"
Sam immediately barked three times.
"I haven't even suggested anything yet!"
His canine expression somehow conveyed both exasperation and amusement.
Mac pushed through the front door without knocking, carrying a paper bag that smelled like Fabio's cinnamon rolls. "How's our little fluffy investigator this morning?"
Sam growled, hackles rising.
"Still has his sunny personality, I see." Mac set the bag on the counter and scratched behind Sam's ear. Sam snapped at his fingers, missing by millimeters.
"We're working on communication," Delilah explained, diving into the bag. "Though I'm not sure how we're going to track magical artifacts with Sam in this condition."
Sam jumped down from the counter, trotting to the living room where his case files lay scattered. He pawed at a specific document, then looked up expectantly.
"I think he wants us to read that," Mac said.
Delilah picked up the paper. "It's about the thefts. Pattern analysis showing..." She squinted at Sam's meticulous handwriting. "Wait, you suspected paired magical signatures were being targeted weeks ago?"
Sam barked once, then twice, then pawed at another document.
"Yes and no? Oh—you suspected but weren't sure." Delilah flipped through the pages. "These notes are incredible, Sam. The way you've mapped the resonance patterns between theft locations..."
Sam's tail wagged slightly before he caught himself and forced it to stop.
