My head pounded and ached. I just wanted to curl up tighter until the pain went away. Something prodded me. I groaned and swatted it away. "No~! I don't wanna get up!" I slurred sleepily.
"Umm... kitten? Are you alright?" someone asked me, worry evident in their voice. I opened my eyes and came face to face with a man near my head. He had stormy grey hair with black streaks in it, mostly covered by a black newsboy cap. He also had dark blue eyes with enlarged slit pupils. A grey sweatshirt was tied around his waist over a black t-shirt and blue jeans.
"I'm not sure," I managed as he helped me sit up. I swayed a little as the blood rushed to my head. The man caught me and gently eased me to my feet.
"Easy, kitten," he crooned, "You hit your head pretty hard. And you knocked your hat off."
"I never had a hat on," I mumbled. I noticed another man standing guard while the other helped me. "Who are you guys?"
The man standing guard let out a chuckle, then said lightly, "You must have hit your head harder than you thought, kitten. You're one of us after all."
"Shut up, Serge," the man next to me grumbled, "We don't know how long she's been unconscious. Could've been a couple hours, or a couple days, or a couple weeks!"
"Aww, come on, Moon! Don't be like that! She's only been here for a couple hours," Serge laughed. He turned serious. "But Back-Street Barry and Calamity Callie were definitely here. You can smell them."
Leaning against Moon, I finally got a good look at Serge. He was tall and had white and black blotchy hair. He held a black and white baseball hat in his hands. But the weirdest thing was a pair of white and black cat ears that perched on his head. He caught me staring at them. He laughed, "Kitten, don't look at me like that. You have your own pair."
Nope. This wasn't happening. I was dreaming, and I would wake up with Mr. T's script in my hand to the smell of coffee. Nope, nope, nope, nope, nopity nope nope.
I caught my reflection in a nearby puddle. For some reason, my hair had been dyed a light grey and white, but that wasn't the strangest part. Cat ears perched on my head, the same light grey as my hair. Drat. This was real.
"Kitten? Princess? Are you okay?" Moon said worriedly. I shook my head and buried my face in my hands. Nope. Not today. This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening. There was no possible reason why this would be happening. I wished it was a dream, but the hard concrete under my bare(?) feet and the gentle feeling of Moon's hand on my arm dispelled any hope that this was just a hallucination.
"Princess, please talk to us. We're just like you, and you're just like us. You're Alagora, and that means you can tell us anything," Moon pleaded.
"Humans, ten o'clock!" Serge shouted and frantically shoved his hat on his head. Moon stripped off his sweatshirt and forced me into it. I barely had time to zip it up when Moon forcibly pulled the hood over my head and picked me up bridal style. The two guys sped off to who knew where with me frantically hanging on.
Questions whirled just as frantically around my head. Who were Moon and Serge? What did they mean that I was like them? What did it mean to be Alagora? What was Alagora? Why were Moon and Serge afraid of humans? Wouldn't they be scared of me too? But apparently I wasn't human anymore; I was Alagora. What had happened to me? What did Barry and Cal have to do with this? What did Cal mean by don't trust the tiger and don't do anything I'll rue? Where the Barry and Cal that I met the same Back-street Barry and Calamity Callie that supposedly left me there in that alley? How did Mr. T fit into all of this? Was I going to get fired for not contacting him? How would I contact him? Could I even contact him? What about school? What about my parents? What the heckity heck was going on?!?!?!?
Finally, we slowed down in front of a consignment store called Trashy Treasures. Moon dropped me into Serge's arms and dashed inside. We waited awkwardly outside. I thought I could hear Serge muttering to himself that he had a girlfriend, he had a girlfriend, he had a girlfriend. I mentally shook my head. Weird.
Moon dashed out again, this time his arms full of purchases. We ducked into another alley.
"Sorry if these are a little big, princess," Moon said as he handed me the bags and looked away, "I had to guess your size. You're not much bigger than Athena or Quincy though." It was then that I realized that the sweater dress I was wearing had become a bit breezier than it was normally.
I blushed and quickly put on the first clothes I pulled out of the bags. They ended up being a pair of black leggings, a white tank top, and a loose grey sheer shirt with the words, "Dare 2 Dance." How Moon had guessed my size, I didn't know, but he was magic. Then I realized I had a tiny problem in the form of a long and furry grey limb called a tail. I had a tail. I had an honest-to-goodness tail. "Umm, Moon?" I called nervously. Moon and Serge had gone around the corner to give me some privacy, Serge with a little prompting from Moon. Moon popped his head around the corner and immediately saw my problem.
"Don't worry, princess. It's okay," he soothed as he came closer. "How do you normally hide it?"
"I don't know!" I wailed, finally giving into my hopelessness. I didn't know where I was, I had somehow gotten cat ears and a tail, and now I had to figure out a new way to dress to hide my thrice-forsaken tail.
"Shhh, not so loud, princess," Moon hissed, "We're technically not supposed to be here." That got my attention.
"What do you mean?" I sniffled as Moon carefully grabbed my tail and his sweatshirt.
"I mean that Alagoras aren't allowed to associate with humans unless doing Alagoran transactions," Moon said and showed me how to tuck my tail against my body and hide it with the sweatshirt. "I don't know how they do things where you're from, but in Riosea, nobody deals with Alagoras anymore than they have to." The last part was said almost bitterly like he resented being treated as an outcast. He checked my work before nodding and throwing me a beanie. "Hide your ears, and don't trust anyone who tells you to take off your hat. If they do, run away or make an excuse that you have some disease." He told me sternly. I nodded and tucked my ears into the beanie.
"So, where am I going to stay?" I asked nervously as I quickly followed Moon out of the alley.
"You can stay with us at the Shipyard!" Serge said excitedly.
Moon glared at Serge and motioned to talk privately. Serge followed Moon, almost wiggling with excitement. I stood near the wall away from their pow-wow and nervously waited for the toms to reach their verdict. I strained my ears to catch what Moon and Serge were saying.
"...come on Moon, she's not a threat..."
"...what happened last time..."
"I know, but..."
"...have to let Solomon decide..."
"Please, can we..."
I knew enough that Moon was starting to break. I'd used Serge's trick of coming up with one argument after another a thousand times. Suddenly my head rang as if someone had taken a hammer to it. The pain started all over again, the same squeezing and pushing into a smaller form. The same whisper that had ripped my world apart laughed so hard that my vision doubled and split. It hissed in my head, You're a natural, darling. You should work for me full time. Those yellow eyes danced with a crazy light. I'll be expecting you soon.
I rubbed my face on my hands, trying to get that voice out of my head. I must have made some noise because Serge ran over to me and tried to talk to me. "What's going on? What's wrong?" I could only gasp with the pain and curl tighter. I think I fell sometime during my hallucination of yellow eyes hissing with pleasure at my pain.
Moon glanced at my whimpering form and sighed. "Alright, Serge, you win. She can come home with us. I have a feeling the twins and Jenny will flay us alive if we didn't bring her home." He crouched down close to my head, "we're gonna bring you to help. What's your name, princess?"
I managed to whimper a name off the top of my head, "Melody," before another wave of agony overtook my small frame. I distantly remember being carried in something strong and warm and voices buzzing above me before I slipped into blessed darkness.
YOU ARE READING
Alagoran Melodies
Fantasy"Leaning against Moon, I finally got a good look at Serge. He was tall and had white and black blotchy hair. He held a black and white baseball hat in his hands. But the weirdest thing was a pair of white and black cat ears that perched on his head...
