That wasn’t a stick.
Was it…a wand?Wasn’t magic a childish story?Was it simply a strange attempt to intimidate him, or was the man delusional?
He didn’t want to find out, but he didn’t want to leave Thea to face it, either.
He stood his ground.
“You need not go to the café,” he said formally.“You can find a drink elsewhere.Perhaps the tavern.”
Roan was a big boy.He could handle himself when it came to strange men with wands.
“Yeah?You think I’m some sort of animal unfit to enter your building?”
“If you are going to act civilly,” Nathaniel said, “you are welcome to visit the café.But your manner as you approached suggested that you might cause issues, and I cannot allow that to happen in my building.”
The man began muttering again.“Maybe you ought to try being an animal and see how that feels, before you go around accusing people of being unwelcome in places for no reason.”
Nat’s eyes widened as a stream of light began to appear from the end of the wand.He stepped to the side instinctively, but he couldn’t move fast enough, and it enveloped him.
What was happening?
He was warm.Strangely warm.And his whole body began to itch.
Was he being cursed?He’d heard rumors about people being cursed.
He’d never believed they were real.
But it was true.
Magic was real.
The itching turned into pinpricks, and he tried to yell, but his throat was suddenly closing up.
Was he dying?
The pressure around his neck lessened, and he drew in a deep breath, the air tasting different than usual.
What had the sorcerer meant by being an animal?Was he turning into one?
The pain and the light began to fade, and Nathaniel opened his mouth to inform the man that whatever he tried hadn’t done anything—but the words came out as a meow.
Nathaniel’s eyes widened, and he looked down in horror.
He had paws, the fur a burnt orange color similar to his own hair.
His boots and legs and hands had disappeared.
Paws.He didn’t want paws.
How was he supposed to protect Thea as a cat?
This was a nightmare.
And not just protecting Thea—he had finally started to get close to her again.Was he going to be a cat for the rest of his life now?
Were Thea and the rest of the town doomed to wonder what had become of Nathaniel Alder?
Would his brother even notice?
