It was about half past eight on Thursday morning as Stacey came in through the back door at QSAW. 

 

The October full moon had reached its peak just over two hours ago, and she was expecting a very busy day today. She already had half the day booked with appointments, and from past experience she knew there'd likely be quite a few drop-ins as well. People who'd used the spell this morning would now be trying to come to grips with the results, and some of them would realize they were unprepared.

 

She walked past the break-room, bidding Kara, Jessica, and Maria a good morning as she made her way into her office. She was just hanging up her jacket when Maria came to her door.

 

"Stacey, when was the last time you spoke with your sister?" Maria's voice sounded worried, and there was a look of concern on her face.

 

Stacey frowned, "Monday evening. Why?"

 

Maria said, "Check your email. We'll talk afterwards."

 

Her stomach started to churn with worry as Stacey sat at her desk and woke up her laptop.

 

It seemed to take forever to get it up and active, then she clicked the email icon. More seconds slowly ticked past before the program finally opened and fetched her recent messages.

 

Stacey's eyes scanned over the new mail. There was nothing from Katie, but there was a message from around seven o'clock this morning from Maria. She opened it and found a link to an article on the CBC news website. She clicked the link, and her blood went cold when she saw the headline.

 

 

It had been published at half past ten last night, Vancouver time.

 

Her eyes quickly scanned the article. Neither Katie or the other victim were named, but the article said that the assault had targeted two users of the 'transformation' spell. Stacey knew her sister was still the only member of the faculty to have done it, so it had to be her.

 

The three perps were also un-named, but the article mentioned that two were first-year students and the third was a grad student in their third year. It also said all three were enrolled in UBC's law program, so they were probably among her sister's students.

 

The article stated both victims were recovering at home and were expected to make a full recovery. It didn't say anything about what had actually been done to them, it didn't list any injuries, but Stacey knew it couldn't have been too serious if her sister was recovering at home.

 

Finally, the article said the university was taking the matter seriously due to the nature of the assault. While university officials were treating it seriously, there was no comment yet from the police as to whether they'd be getting involved or not.

 

That was it, there was no further information. Stacey sat there staring at the screen. She felt numb. She felt sick with worry. She wanted to call, she wanted to speak with Katie, but it was just past five-thirty out there. And if her sister was recovering from an assault, she'd need her sleep. She didn't need Stacey calling her in a panic.

 

She sat there for another couple minutes, re-reading the news article as if the fourth or fifth time would glean some additional information.

 

Eventually she remembered Maria wanted to talk with her. She got up and walked to Maria's office, and saw Jessica was in there as well. 

 

Before she could knock, Maria motioned "Stacey, come in, have a seat."

 

Stacey nodded and sat down next to Jessica.

 

"Are you ok?" Jess asked, concerned.

 

Stacey shrugged slightly, "I don't know. There wasn't any information really, and it's too early to call..." 

 

Her eyes flicked to Maria. Her boss had forwarded her the article, maybe she knew more. "What do you know, Maria? How'd you hear about it?"

 

The older woman sighed, shaking her head "I don't know much more than that. When I woke up this morning I saw a dozen different people had forwarded me that article." She hesitated, then added "I've looked in on your sister. I can't see any injuries, and she was sleeping quietly when I checked a few minutes ago. Your niece is there too, and she's awake, so you could talk to her."

 

Stacey was out of her seat and halfway to the door, on her way back to her office to grab her phone. She stopped and frowned, "What do you mean you looked in on her?"

 

Maria replied "Magic. I used a clairvoyance spell, which let me see her."

 

Jessica added, "If you want, we can teleport you out there. Check with Sarah first, but we can do it right away if you like."

 

"Oh..." Stacey blinked at that, then nodded. "Ok thank you!"

 

She hurried back to her office and grabbed her phone, and with shaky hands she sent a text to her niece.

 

 

It took a minute or so to get a reply back.

 

 

 

She grabbed her purse and jacket and hurried back to Maria's office. She stuffed her phone into her purse and nodded to the two women, "I've texted with Sarah. I'm ready to go."

 

Maria stood up and said, "I'll send you out. When you're ready to come back, text Jessica and she'll bring you back. And please keep us updated on what's happening. If you need to stay a few days that's fine, just keep us in the loop."

 

Stacey nodded, "Of course. Thank you so much for doing this!"

 

Maria said, "Here we go."

 

There was no sensation of movement, or anything else really. The two women and the office all sort of spun and faded, and Stacey found herself standing just inside the front door of her sister's house. It was still dark out here, not even six o'clock yet. 

 

There were some pegs on the wall next to the door, and Stacey hung her jacket on one of them as she glanced around. The ground floor was dark and quiet. 

 

She wasn't sure where in the house Sarah was, and didn't want to go snooping around and startle her, so she pulled her phone out again to send another text. There was already one waiting.

 

 

Stacey smiled despite her worry, as she sent another message.

 

 

A few moments after hitting send, Stacey's ears twitched as she heard some footsteps upstairs. Then her niece came into view, as she descended the staircase dressed in pyjamas and a house-coat. 

 

Sarah's eyes were wide as she quietly gasped, "Holy crap! You're really here!"

 

Stacey stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her niece, hugging her tightly. "Please tell me what happened! You're sure she's ok?"

 

Sarah hugged her back and nodded, "She's fine. She'll probably be awake in the next hour or so and she can tell you herself. I'm sure she'd rather be the one to explain it. But the extremely short version is, three students tried to drug her, and another student was affected as well. It was probably meant as a harmless prank, but I was pretty scared for her at first, till I knew she was ok."

 

As Stacey let go and stepped back, Sarah added, "I've spoken to a few of her friends on the faculty and some supporters on the board, and from the sounds of it, they're taking it seriously." She added, "Now I'm going to make some coffee. I'd offer you some but I'm sure you still don't drink it, so how about some water or whatever?"

 

Stacey followed her niece into the kitchen, where Sarah got a bottle of water out of the fridge for her, then put on the coffee machine for herself.

 

She accepted the water, but asked, "They tried to drug her?! What the hell? That's not a harmless prank, that's five-to-ten for assault!"

 

Sarah nodded, "I hope the local police see it that way too, but I hadn't heard anything from them before I went to bed last night. I know the university contacted them and sent them all the relevant information."

 

"If you don't hear from them by noon today, we should start chasing them." Stacey said. "I'll do it if you want. I mean, I'm not a cop anymore but I know how to talk to them and what to say."

 

"We'll see, aunt Stacey." Sarah said. "Wait and talk with mom first anyways."

 

She sighed, "Right. Of course."

 

The two of them wound up sitting at the kitchen table, Sarah with her coffee and Stacey with her water. They talked quietly, and Sarah's relaxed calm attitude helped Stacey to calm down as well. She was still eager to see and speak with her sister, but if her niece was taking things this calmly then it couldn't have been anything that serious after all.

 

Finally, a little after seven o'clock, Stacey's ears twitched as she heard some movement upstairs. 

 

"She's up, I can hear her moving around." Stacey said, watching Sarah's reaction.

 

Sarah shrugged, "Good, maybe you'll finally relax after you've spoken with her." She got up to make herself another cup of coffee, and shouted "Mom! Come downstairs there's someone here to see you!"

 

Stacey cringed at her niece's voice, which was impressively loud. A few moments later she could hear some very light footsteps coming down the stairs.

 

Katie stepped into the kitchen and stopped, her eyes wide. "Stacey?! What the hell are you doing here?"

 

The tiny catgirl appeared perfectly healthy. She looked a little sleepy, her platinum blonde hair was a mess, but her ears were standing up straight and her tail was sticking up too. She was barefoot, and appeared to wearing nothing but a small dark nightshirt.

 

Stacey half-laughed, half-sobbed in relief, "I was so worried about you sis!" She jumped to her feet and crossed the kitchen in three quick strides, then wrapped her arms around her sister and picked her up off her feet into a big hug.

 

Katie squeaked in surprise, then started squirming "Aaaah! Put me down!"

 

She set her little sister back down and grinned, "Sorry! I'm just so glad to see you're ok."

 

The small catgirl huffed and fussed about being picked up, and made a show of straightening her nightshirt. 

 

Then she went to the fridge to get herself a drink. She wound up with a bottle of water, but also poured herself a very small glass of cream. Finally all three of them sat down at the kitchen table again.

 

"I suppose you're dying to hear what happened?" Katie asked as she had a sip of the cream. 

 

"Yes!" Stacey replied, "Maria and Jessica at QSAW are worried too, so as soon as you've told me, I have to text them."

 

Katie grimaced, "I had no idea it was national news."

 

Stacey replied, "Well it was. Literally. There was an article on the CBC news website."

 

"Oh wow," her sister looked impressed about that. "I hope they treated it seriously?"

 

"They did," Stacey nodded. "It scared the hell out of me. Now enough stalling, tell me what happened!"

 

Katie sighed and had another sip of her cream before saying, "Two first-year students and one of my TAs got it into their heads to try a little 'prank'. They got a can of spray catnip... It's basically concentrated catnip oil. It's very potent, and it's in an aerosol can. Just after I started the class, they punctured the can then sent it skittering up towards the front where I was standing."

 

Stacey stared at her sister for a moment, then asked "Catnip? They tried to drug you with catnip?"

 

"Yes," Katie nodded. "I recognized the scent of course, and as soon as they cracked open the can I knew what was going to happen. I left the class as fast as I could, and fortunately it was only three doors down from my office. I got a pretty significant dose of the stuff though, and it got all over my clothes. I was able to lock myself in my office and sent a text to Sarah asking for help, before it really kicked in."

 

She sighed, adding "Another of my first-year students used the spell in September, she's a catgirl now too. She wasn't able to get out of the classroom fast enough. I don't think she realized what was happening until it was too late."

 

Sarah spoke up, "I heard from Melanie's parents last night. She was at home, sleeping it off. She'll be ok."

 

Stacey looked back and forth between her sister and her niece. "You mean, catnip works on you? And other catgirls like you?"

 

"I can't speak for every catgirl in the world," Katie replied, "But it definitely works on me, and apparently it worked on Melanie."

 

Stacey blinked at her sister, then asked "What does it do? What's it like?"

 

Katie shrugged, "I can't speak for everyone. For me, the effect varies quite a bit depending on the dose. And it's hard to compare it to anything I'd experienced before becoming part cat."

 

She looked thoughtful as she tried to describe it, "Depending on the dose it can be like some aspects of cannabis, ecstasy, and even a little bit of LSD. There's feelings of happiness, bliss, euphoria, silliness, giddiness, and giggling. It can also include lethargy and sleepiness. And occasionally there's some tactile or 'touchy-feely' reactions. And more rarely, horniness and hallucinations. Like I said though, it varies a lot."

 

Stacey was staring at her sister, "Woah. Ok holy crap. So getting a massive dose of that in a classroom full of students..." 

 

Her sister nodded, "Yeah. It wouldn't have been good."

 

She added with another sigh, "I feel awful regardless, for the fact that one of my students was affected. I couldn't stay to help her though, I had to get myself clear."

 

Stacey frowned as she asked, "How do you know so much about how those other drugs feel?"

 

Katie smirked, "How do you think, sis?"

 

Sarah shook her head and rolled her eyes, unimpressed with her mother's antics. However, she stayed quiet as she sipped her coffee.

 

"Oh," Stacey blushed. "And I guess that's how you know how catnip effects you."

 

Her sister shrugged, "It's been two months since I decided to stay like this and embrace my new self, Stacey. I've had a lot of time to experiment and find out how this body reacts to things." 

 

"So what ended up happening, after you were locked in your office?" Stacey asked, curious. "Or do I not want to know?"

 

Katie blushed, "Like I said, it was a large dose, and since my clothes were soaked in it, it basically came with me into my office. When Sarah found me I was curled up asleep under my desk. Uh, naked."

 

"She was pretty lethargic and acted kind of drunk when I found her," Sarah said. "I had to wrap her up in a blanket and carry her to her car. And she wouldn't go quietly until I let her carry her clothes wound up into a ball, so she could keep inhaling the stuff."

 

Katie was blushing brightly, her ears back and tail down as her daughter revealed that part of the story.

 

Stacey fought to keep a grin off her face. It sounded amusing and cute, but she knew it was serious. 

 

Finally she sighed. "Ok I can see why students might have thought this was a prank, and I can see why it's actually extremely serious. I guess the question is whether or not the local police take it seriously, and if the media treat it seriously. It sounds like the university is at least handling it properly."

 

Sarah nodded, "That's what I'm worried about. That people will hear 'catnip' and think it's just a silly prank. I mean, it's a harmless plant you buy at the pet store. It's not like they tried to hit her with some street-drug or a date-rape drug or whatever."

 

Stacey frowned. "Peanut butter is a 'harmless' food product available everywhere, but if you feed it to someone you know has a severe allergy, that's attempted murder. It doesn't matter what the substance was, it's the intent that counts. These three students knew, or at least suspected, that Katie and that other student would be susceptible to it, and they basically tried to cause an overdose."

 

Katie nodded and sighed. "I have to find out if Melanie's ok. I have to find out what happened to her."

 

"Her parents said she was ok," Sarah reminded them.