Beauty and the Magician (Tales of the Red Witch Book 1)

Chapter 14 - Beast unleashed

As morning came and the orange glow of dawn crawled across their room and the birds began to sing their tribute to the new day, Annika found herself shaking free of her restless sleep.

Nightmares had plagued her throughout the moonless night casting the most horrific visions before her closed eyes. It had truly been a most miserable night and she was incredibly glad that it was over.

She yawned and blinked the sleep away a few times. She pulled a hand free of the blankets to rub her sleepy eyes. That was when she caught a glimpse of it through her blurry morning vision. She shot up in bed jarring Sofie next her.

Annika brought her hands up in front of her studying them. Gone were her elegant flawless hands, and in their place were knobby grey furred paws. Claws had grown where her finger nails once were.

Shock hit her like a lightning bolt. She blinked and rubbed her eyes, looking at her hands again. She must still be asleep. This is another nightmare. But another look at her paws and a sharp pinch to the back of her former hand confirmed that she was wide awake and what she was seeing was real.

"Oh no!" She exclaimed.

"Whaswrong?" Sofie slurred out from her sprawling sleep. How did someone so little manage to take up so much of the bed?

Annika didn't answer her, she swung her legs over the side of the bed. She pulled up her long nightgown and looked at her now furry legs and large hind paws. In fact her whole body had turned furry. She stopped breathing when she spotted the long slender tail.

She had a tail!

She ran a hand over it and felt her touch through it like it was any other appendage. It twitched of it's own accord making the grey fur glisten in the light of the window.

She jumped up noting that the room had either gotten taller or she had gotten shorter. Her nightgown hung too large on her, dragging on the floor. She didn't stop to think about it, instead she ran to the mirror and shrieked at the monster standing before her.

To her horror, when she shrieked so did the monster in the mirror.

Sofie was awake now. "Annika?"

Annika turned toward Sofie. Sofie shrieked covering her face. "Doneatme! Goway!"

"No Sofie, it's me, Annika." Sofie peered through her fingers looking at the creature in front of her. She slowly brought her hands down. Her mouth hanging open, her eyes wide in shock.

"Annika? Oh no! The witch!" She said covering her mouth.

Annika turned to look back in the mirror as Sofie bounded out of bed. Annika studied her face in the mirror. She was a cat beast! That miserable old witch had turned her into a beast all because of a pair of pink drawers and her stupid uncontrollable mouth! Fear, anger, and sadness had twisted together and settled as a knot in her stomach. Her heart was racing, pulsing in her ears. She felt woozy, sick to her stomach.

Her once thick shiny blonde hair had turned into a dull furry grey mop that fell straight past her now large furry pointed ears. Her cheeks were puffy and covered in whiskers and her petite nose had grown into a cat like snout with a split upper lip. She raised a hand poking at her furry face. Her thin cat like mouth fell open in shock, enlarged canines now stared back at her.

She had never been a vain person, but she also had never had to worry about her looks. She stared at her eyes in the mirror.

They were the same green with gold bits. Annika let out a breath that she didn't know she was holding. She focused on the monster's eyes, her eyes. Tears welled in them, she blinked them away.