I continued staring at myself in the mirror in shock. There were so many different emotions crashing back and forth through me I had no idea how to respond or react.

My tail was twitching back and forth in agitation, and I felt it as clearly as I could see it in the mirror. My ears were upright but pointed forward slightly.

"This can't be real," I tried to convince myself. "It's not possible."

I reached up with two smooth slender arms and gently touched my ears. They were warm, soft, fuzzy, and they felt extremely real. And through them I felt the sensation of my fingers touching them. They were real actual cat ears. It was impossible but it was true.

Next I reached back and grabbed hold of my tail, and I felt that too. The sensation came through my lower back, the feeling of my small soft hand gripping my tail. I drew the end of it around in front of me, and the feeling of my hand running down the length of my tail over my fur was surprisingly relaxing.

It was a real tail, and it was really connected to my body. It was a little longer than my legs, the end could rest on the floor if I let it hang straight down. I didn't have that much control over it though, and as soon as I let go it started swishing back and forth behind my legs again.

After the ears and tail, my attention moved on to the next impossible attributes.

My hands moved to my chest and I tentatively, gently placed them on my breasts. They fit perfectly in my hands, they were firm and perky. Soft, warm, and sensitive, and tipped with thick pink nipples that were already coming to attention under the contact with my fingers.

I gulped and pulled my hands away as I stared again. My eyes moved slowly downwards over my reflection, from my chest down past my flat tummy and finally settled at my groin. The skin there was as smooth and soft as everywhere else, and I realized with a bit of surprise that there didn't appear to be any body hair on me at all. Considering how much I'd hated the stuff, I wasn't going to complain but it was an interesting surprise.

My attention returned to my groin and I shifted my stance slightly. I felt a sudden wave of butterflies in my tummy. I was a girl. Not that I'd been doubting or questioning, but now I'd seen the last piece of evidence with my own eyes. The magic turned me into a girl.

Not just a girl, I was a cat girl, which still seemed impossible.

I focused on my face again, and I stepped closer to the mirror as I carefully studied my new features.

My eyes weren't just a light green, I realized the pupils were vertical slits like cats eyes. My nose was small and delicate and cute, with a slight upturn. My eyebrows were thin and arched, my lashes long and thick. Overall my face was rounded and cute, there weren't any harsh sharp angular lines to be seen. My lips were a healthy pink colour, they were full and wide and for some strange reason they were currently pulled up at the corners into a wide smile.

I slowly reached up and let the backs of my fingers caress across my cheeks and lips. Smooth soft skin brushed against smooth soft skin.

The smile my reflection was wearing grew a little wider. My lips parted slightly, and I noticed the teeth.

My eyes widened again as I opened my mouth for a closer look. My teeth were unusual. The front teeth were smaller, the fangs were longer and sharper. Definitely cat-like.

I stepped back again to study my over-all appearance in the mirror once more. I realized I looked younger than I'd expected. I looked about twenty. I was planning or hoping to be twenty-four. Twenty wasn't too far off, but it was a bit of a surprise.

I noticed though, my tail had finally stopped its twitching. Now it was standing upright behind my back, and my ears were pointing upwards as well. Both were signs of a happy cat. The wide smile on my face seemed to agree.

Except I remained confused. How did this happen? And why was it making me feel so happy? This was very much not what I expected or intended.

I decided I needed to talk with the proprietor of that shop, I had to speak with Selene. I couldn't remember exactly where I left my phone, but I knew it would be either on my desk or on the coffee table by the sofa.

I emerged from the bathroom then stopped dead in my tracks as I stared at the rest of my condo. My tail began twitching in agitation again.

This was still my condo, but the furniture was all different.

The biggest shock of all was my piano was simply gone. I'd spent a lot of money and gone to a lot of trouble to get a baby grand piano in here, and now it was missing. Likewise my mahogany desk was gone, along with the leather sofa.

The space was slightly more open now without the piano dominating the middle of the living-room area, but there wasn't exactly room for it anymore.

In the corner where my antique desk once sat was now a large modern grey L-shaped desk, and before it sat a fancy colourful pink ergonomic chair. One arm of the desk held a flashy new computer with dual monitors, and a pretty matching pink keyboard and mouse.

The other arm of the desk held a full-size MIDI keyboard, along with a collection of analog and digital synthesizers, a mixer, and a sequencer. Next to the desk an electric bass sat in a stand, and a couple large professional studio speakers rested on shelves above the desk. There was even a professional mic on a small boom so I could position it wherever it was needed.

The opposite corner which once held my modest television and leather sofa was now home to an enormous home theatre unit, complete with elaborate sound system. Shelves below the big screen held a trio of gaming consoles and various controllers and other peripherals. A comfy-looking L-shaped sectional sofa took up the remaining space in that corner of the room.

Only the kitchen and dining areas appeared mostly unchanged. The same small dining table sat against the island that divided the kitchen from the rest of the open space. The same four chairs were tucked under the table. I noticed the coffee machine was much more elaborate than the one I remembered buying, this one looked like it also did latte and espresso and Gods knew what else. And the toaster I bought when I moved here was missing entirely.

I must have stood there staring for five minutes as it slowly sank in that the magic hadn't only changed my body, it also changed my home.

Finally my eyes settled on the coffee table. My black patchwork purse sat there, and I knew my phone would be inside.

I hurried over and sat on the sofa. The soft fabric was very comfortable against my naked backside while my tail naturally curled around to the right and the end wrapped around my right knee.

I picked up my purse and pulled out my phone, then hesitated. I set the pink smartphone down on the coffee table and pulled out my wallet. It was just like I remembered, black nylon decorated with a pattern of white skulls wearing cute pink bows on their heads.

Except that's not what my wallet looked like. Not before. I owned a typical leather men's wallet, well-worn and probably in need of replacement. I could remember that, but I also remembered this cute girls wallet too. Just like I recognized the purse and remembered the pink phone, despite never having seen them before this moment.

I opened the wallet and looked at my various plastic cards. Drivers licence, health card, bank card, credit card, transit pass, and my student card from college. One by one I pulled them out and placed them on the coffee table, till I had a little row of cards.

Every card with a photo depicted the same cute young catgirl. And all of them bore my name, Ariana Lloyd.

Ariana.

Of course, that's who I was. I remembered that, but at the same time I could still remember the other name too, the one that I'd endured for sixty-eight years. I never particularly liked it, but I assumed that was common. Everyone was stuck with whatever moniker our parents saddled us with. I expected most people quietly hated their names but there wasn't anything you could do about it so why make a fuss.

Except now I was Ariana, and I felt the corners of my lips curling upwards again. I even had some faint butterflies in my tummy as I thought about it.

It was a good name, I liked it. It fit right, and it felt right.

The drivers license and health card also had my birthdate on them, and according to my ID I turned twenty-one in March. That was closer to the twenty-four I'd intended, though I thought I looked a bit young. The drivers licence also listed my height, and that startled me slightly too. I hadn't noticed it, but I'd lost sixteen centimetres, or just over six inches.

I used to be a hundred and seventy-three centimetres tall, or five-foot-eight as my dad would say. Now I was a hundred and fifty-seven centimetres tall, or just under five-foot-two.

I finally looked up from all my ID cards, and let my eyes sweep over the room once more.

This definitely wasn't the home of a sixty-eight year old man. It was clearly the home of a young woman now.

My desk was set up as a home music studio. Music was my passion, it always was. I could play several instruments, I just graduated a music course at college, and I composed, played, and recorded my own pieces here. And I sang too, I remembered that as I noticed the mic again.

I hadn't given up my love of the classics, but I'd expanded and incorporated a lot more genres into my repertoire. And I drew inspiration from all of them when I worked on my own original creations.

The home entertainment set-up was important to me as well, along with all the game consoles. In addition to my other music, I also worked on original scores, soundtracks and music for video games. The games were both a way to relax and unwind, and also another source of inspiration for my work.

My work.

With that thought, my happy mood came crashing down and my smile faded. What about my retirement? What about the money and investments I'd so carefully set up for myself?

I dashed from the sofa to my desk and sat down in the big ergonomic chair. There was a little gap which my tail slipped into as if I'd done that a thousand times before, and my hands moved to the pink mouse and keyboard.

I had both the bank website and the investment site in my bookmarks which was a promising sign. My account numbers and passwords were different, but I somehow remembered both sets. The ones I'd used as an old man no longer worked, but the ones I used as a young catgirl did. I logged in with the new ones, and breathed a deep sigh of relief.

The funds were still there. My investments weren't exactly the same, but they still existed. My former self had chosen his investments based on maximizing the long-term benefit while minimizing risk. As Ariana I did that too, but I was careful to ensure my money only went into places that were ethical, sustainable, and environmentally friendly.

As I looked over the numbers on the screen, the next thought that came to me was how to explain all this? How could a twenty-one year old girl afford this fancy downtown condo, where did I get all the money from?

The answer came to me as soon as I thought the question, and it was a surprise.

I inherited my dad's company when he died two years ago at age sixty-six. I was only nineteen and didn't know anything about business, and while I did share dad's knack for computers my focus and interest was in music production and audio software rather than networking and security programming.

As I thought about it, I could still remember doing that work, I still had that knowledge even if it bored me to tears. The business stuff though, that was just a blank. I knew I used to be good at it but now I couldn't even remember the basics. It was a strange sensation, though it wasn't an upsetting one.

I wouldn't have been able to run the company anyways, I was too young. Dad's lawyers and accountants helped me to sell the business, and the proceeds from that along with dad's insurance and other investments paid for my college education, my car, my condo. And if I was careful and a little lucky, I could probably live off that money for the rest of my life.

So even though I was working now, it was only because I loved music and had fun with what I was doing. I didn't have the pressure of depending on my next paycheque to keep the lights on and the fridge full.

In other words, things worked out exactly like I'd planned from the start.

Except the part about 'my dad'. I actually had memories of the old me but from the outside, as my dad. That might have been the strangest thing so far. Other than waking up as a girl, and being part cat.

I definitely needed to talk with Selene though, because all of this was a whole lot of impossible and unexpected stuff for me to try and deal with.

Before I could go and grab my phone I was distracted by Ludwig rubbing against my bare ankles as I sat at my desk. Then my ears twitched as I heard noises from the coffee table. Wolfgang was there, playfully batting my ID cards onto the floor.

"You two cats!" I rolled my eyes as I stood up and my tail started twitching again. "Ok I'll get your breakfast! You're right, momma's already made you boys wait long enough."

PurpleCatGirl

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