I opened my eyes, but there was no one in sight. The sun was out already. I could hear insects and animals all around. It felt weird, since a moment before it was as calm as the water in a well.

I put some clothes on, but they were too big for me. I realized I hadn’t  returned to my taller height. I tried and tried, but my shape remained the same.

I covered myself with only a blanket and stepped outside of the room. The hut was exactly as the last time I saw it, but there was still no one near. I quickly went into Breena’s room and, since I was stuck on a similar size to hers, I took some of her clothes.

All of Breenas clothes were dresses, though. I hadn’t really worn a dress since I got to be a tall catgirl, and I really miss it now.

I decided to put on a bra and panties first, then some short leggings and sneakers. But I couldn’t get myself to wear her dresses, so I just used one of my big shirts as a kind of  dress.

After getting dressed, I tried phasing through a wall. However, the bracelet still wouldn’t let me do so. It seems it was better at anchoring me to the physical plane than a bond, but it also took all of my spirit's abilities.

Thus, I had to open the front door like everyone else. When I did so, a warm and really humid air slapped me on the face. The sun shone so intensely, it disoriented me a bit. It was really weird.

It took some time for my eyes to get used to the light. Then, I noticed that the hut was now in the middle of a jungle, and my jaw dropped to the floor. I was about to scream when someone put their arms around me.

I almost fell over when trying to turn my head, but to my relief, the one that hugged me was Breena. Though, she had a sorrowful smile on her face.

“Can you please explain where the hell we are?!” I said with a tone only dogs could hear.

“First of all, I think you should go with Arlott and Kiandra. They’re  trying to get Arlott to do magic a little over that way.” She had a worried tone , as she pointed to a part of the glade we were in. “I think Kiandra may answer your questions.”

I wasn’t only confused, but her tone and voice made me really worry too. I looked where she was pointing at, and there they were; Kiandra trying to teach Arlott and losing her calm while doing so, and Arlott on the verge of tears.

When I got near them, Arlott looked at me and her eyes grew. I couldn’t know if it was because I was fine, or because I was a good enough reason to escape Kiandra’s hellish magic class.

Arlott ran to receive me and jumped in my arms. However, my then current body wasn’t strong enough to hold her, so we both fell to the floor. But Arlott didn’t seem to care.

“Love, you are okay!” She smiled wide, but some tears still ran down her cheeks for some reason. “I was so scared you wouldn’t wake up.”

I got really worried when she told me that. But I also felt the rush from hearing her calling me ‘love’ and being so worried for me. . I looked at Kiandra, and she just passed by the hut. 

“I’ll get a kettle going so we can sit down and tell you everything.” She said with a sigh. She was just too used to Arlott showing love now.

After some hard time dragging Arlott, who was still hanging from my neck, we got into the hut. There, Breena was already on the table and eating some biscuits, while Kiandra was taking the cups out for the tea. 

As we all sat together, Arlott showed no sign of wanting to let me go. Breena wasn’t looking directly at me, but she got so close, you could feel how worried she had been for me. Kiandra also sat close to me, looking at Arlott in a way that made it clear she wanted to hug me too, but she waited for her turn.

“Istas, my dear,” Kiandra began after recognizing her turn would never come. “As you may have noticed, we are not in Ireland anymore.”

Even though I knew we weren’t in the same place anymore, I didn’t really think it would be in another country. But then, I realized that, with the weather I saw, it was really impossible to be near Ireland anymore.

“Well, we’re now in some part of the Amazonian jungle. Not really sure where.” Kiandra dropped her head. “After that guy’s attack, I didn’t have another option than to teleport the hut anywhere that would be far enough that he couldn’t attack us again.”

She began to become smaller and smaller on her chair.

“I couldn’t defend any of you back there.” Kiandra’s voice began cracking with a sob here and there. “It made me remember that time…” By that point, Kiandra began to cry.

“That time that you…” She couldn’t end her sentence , but I knew what she meant. I looked at Breena and Arlott, but both of them looked away. What happened after I fainted?

Kiandra just couldn’t keep herself and jumped to hug me forcing Arlott away.

“I’m so sorry Istas,” she cried. “I’m so sorry that you got hurt again. The last month has been so hard...” she kept going, but I couldn’t hear anymore. I was unconscious for a month?

I looked at Breena again, but she kept looking to another place. Then I looked at Arlott and she maintained my sight, but I could see the sorrow she felt all this time.

After a while, Kiandra’s sad monologue became just a mumbling before she finished. An awkward silence took over the room, and it became even more awkward as the presence of all the life outside the hut made themselves more noticeable with their distinctive noises.

Trying to interrupt the silence, I decided to talk.

“Ehm, Kiandra. How have Arlott’s magic lessons been going?”

As soon as I said that, Arlott’s eyes changed to ones that showed how betrayed she felt, but I had a reason for saying that. I moved my mouth to tell her so , at which Arlott looked at me with suspicion, but then just giggled a little. She trusted that I would never betray her.

“They have been awful,” Kiandra said with a pained voice. “We’ve tried for about a month and a half, and she can’t even heat up her hands.” It was almost as if that pained her more than her guilt over what happened to me.

“And what would you do if it wasn’t her fault?” I asked a little bit cheeky, knowing that it would save a lot of pain to Arlott, who looked at me with a bright expression.

“I would say you must be joking,” Kiandra replied quickly. “But then I’d stop myself to get an explanation.” She waited for an answer, leaving space to another silence. One that was not awkward anymore.

“You must be joking!” She almost shouted when she realized I was being serious. How would she not...” Then, she stopped and looked with an expectant expression.

I said I needed to first tell them what happened to me after the failed bond ceremony.

Their faces changed progressively as I kept telling her about Cailleach and the things she told me; worry, pain, surprise, excitement. Many faces were shown, but only one left when I told them that the old woman was Cailleach.

“You met her?!” Kiandra said almost as if I met the most amazing celebrity ever. Maybe that’s what she was for a witch.

“How was she? Was she beautiful? No, she is old. But old people can be pretty too in their own way…” hearing her rant again made me relax a lot. It was something normal that made my head run at a calmer pace.

I interrupted her to continue with my story, now getting to the important part.

“So, Cailleach told me why Arlott can’t really make magic.” Kiandra looked at me like it was the most obvious thing. It was cute yet annoying to watch her listening to me talk about Cailleach

“She said that the problem was that Arlott can’t get any divinity to help.”

After listening to that, Kiandra’s face lit up as she had been shown the answer to all the mysteries of the universe.

“Of course.” Kiandra lightly hit her temple with her palm. “How I didn’t think of that.” 

Arlott looked at her and, with a mischievous glimmer in her eye, she replied to Kiandra’s rhetorical question.

“Because you didn’t know that that was a thing?”

If looks could kill, Arlott would have been exterminated. Not even a speck of Will would be left with how Kiandra was looking at her. But that didn’t seem to bother Arlott, who simply began to giggle at the whole situation.

Kiandra tried to refute her. But every time she tried, Arlott’s laughter got louder. It reached a point where she was rolling over the floor, crying out of laughing so much.

At some point, Kiandra just gave up. Arlott’s laughter stopped, eventually. If you ask me, I think she only stopped because she needed to breathe. After all that she went through while trying to learn magic from Kiandra, I think she could be laughing for at least another month.

I seize that opportunity to continue.

“Cailleach also said that she needed to believe in a deity to be able to bond with me.” It was Arlott’ turn to get frustrated. She looked at me with the biggest puppy eyes I had ever seen.

“I won’t be able to bond with you until I start following some dumb god?” Arlott looked as if the world was ending right there.

Kiandra snickered a bit, but then she seemed to remember she was the teacher there and took control of that emotion.

“Well, yes and no.” She offered in a calming tone. “If Istas got to become powerful enough, she could bond herself to you by her own will.” 

Arlott's expression changed upon hearing that, but it lost its brightness as soon as she noticed that Kiandra wasn’t finished. Hoping for the worst, she looked to the floor as Kiandra continued.

“But.” Arlott’s gaze went even lower. “Istas had lost almost all of her will. I think that the bracelet may be the only thing keeping her from merging with the Sea of Wills.” 

That revelation got Arlott, Breena and me by surprise. We all looked at the bracelet as the two of them hugged me tightly.

“So, this is literally my lifeline now?” I said, feeling at the verge of a mental breakdown.

“Yes, but with some time you should get better.” Kindra used the same calming tone with me. “Or at least good enough to not vanish.”

I wasn’t really sure if those words calmed me down, or got me even more anxious now.

Kiandra simply sighed really hard, making the rest of us look at her, guessing there was still bad news she wasn’t sharing yet.

“I think it’s time that I tell you then.” Kiandra talked more paused than usual, while we had our eyes focused on her.

“I’ll have to leave the hut.” We looked at each other. Arlot tried to say something, but she was cut off by Kiandra.

“It's not a thing I can choose to do. That man’s attack was too scary to let it happen again.” Her expression became really serious as she clenched her hands into white knuckled fists.

“I left one portal that can take you to Ireland, once you feel you are ready to get Breena’s body. But don’t use it before that.” Despite all she was saying, she never ranted like usual. She talked slowly and calmly, as if making sure we understood every word she said. “The portal may be hard to control, letting that man learn how to get here.”

Arlott, Breena and I got really sad with that news. Yet, we could understand there was nothing we could do.

“I left a book with magic that might be helpful to you, Arlott, if you do get a deity to help,” Kiandra spoke again while searching around the house. “There’s also a chapter about bonding in here.”

Then, she ran to a bookshelf as if she had just remembered something,, and came back with a dusty box.

“I want you two to have this.” She gave Arlott and me the box. “But you can't open it until you two are bonded.”

Arlott looked at me, and I could tell she was thinking about opening it as soon as Kiandra left. But it seemed that Kiandra also thought about that.

“Promise me you won’t open it until you bond.” She held onto the box. “I believe you will, so please wait.” Kiandra said with eyes that made it impossible to be lied to.

I looked at Arlott, who looked disappointed, but we promised at the same time. Looking satisfied, Kiandra then turned to Breena.

“I’m sorry I can’t do anything for now.” She said apologetically. “But I’ll try to get back as soon as possible, so I can help you get your body back.”

Breena looked sad, but almost resigned to her fate. She kept her gaze on the floor for a moment before suddenly looking up and smiling at Kiandra.

“I believe in Istas and Arlott to get my body back soon enough,” I couldn’t believe she trusted us this much. “So just take your time.”

Her smile was sincere, but her hands still trembled a little. Kiandra seemed to notice it too, but she let that topic go. After that, we talked about something here and there, trying to make Kiandra as happy as possible before she left.

The days Kiandra took to prepare were some weird ones for me. Getting accustomed to use the doors again was an odyssey in itself, but losing my strength was the worst part.

Don’t get me wrong. It wasn’t only because I couldn’t pin down Arlott anymore on our morning kisses -although that was important too-, but it also made me feel too vulnerable. I would also say it made me feel small,, but that was too on the nose for me.

But the thing that made me feel the most uneasy was the sensation that something was constantly looking at me from the jungle. Kiandra said that it must‘ve been the animals from around. I thought so at first, but the uneasiness became harsher by the second. It got to a point I was practically convinced something was watching over me, and that it wasn’t an animal.

Arlott tried to calm me down, as did Breena. But I kept feeling it all over my skin.

After five days or so, Kiandra was ready. She had a really big purse I was sure was bigger on the inside than it looked on the outside , but she was a witch afterall.

Kiandra tried to make it quick, but whenever she was ready to leave, she came back again and began hugging and saying ‘bye’ all over again. It kept going like that until Arlott just shooed her. Still, Kiandra tried to do it once again, but when she turned to do it, she saw Arlott crying. 

When Kiandra turned once more, I could see her shoulder going up and down as she sobbed. She said her goodbyes one last time and vanished. We were left all alone in that jungle, and I kept feeling those eyes on me.

Some days after Kiandra left, the feeling came back even worse. It was so intense, that I just had to leave the hut in the middle of the night in search of the culprit. And as soon as I left, I saw it.

Two big eyes looking directly at me. A pure snow white owl was looking at me from a nearby branch, and I knew it was not a common owl.