School had been interesting. That isn’t to say that it wasn’t awful, it was Winslow after all. It just happened to be one of the best days in the dump she’d ever had. Emma had pushed her around, sure, but someone had cut all of her hair off and left her stinking like a latrine in the middle of Gladly’s world history class.

Then the others tried to save face by pushing Taylor around between classes, only for them to trip over tied shoelaces or find gum stuck to their hair.

All in all it was a chaotic but fun day. A day that would have been a thousand times better were it not for the pit in her stomach.

Glory Girl and Panacea had insisted that she go to their place, that she spill all the truth. To be fair, Taylor had concerns of her own. The people trying to kidnap Dinah had hurt Crochet. They had to be reported, something had to be done about them. She just didn’t want to be the one doing the something.

The bus dropped her off at the end of the street. She adjusted her backpack over one shoulder and started the short walk home. She was still two houses away when she heard the first scream. “She’s coming, put it outside, put it outside!”

The voice was young, girly, and most definitely her problem.

Taylor slowed her walk, hoping that if she took her time whatever fire her little sisters had started would be put out.

“She’s almost here!” said a voice that was definitely Cheshire’s. “Just let me throw it out the window.”

“If you do that you’ll hurt Mister Mittens!” cried Crochet.

“Don’t name it, you dolt!” And that, if Taylor wasn’t mistaken, was Remedy.

She came to a stop in front of her house and found that it was still standing, if in need of a little tender loving care. There was also, she noted, two girls hanging halfway out of the kitchen window while holding on to a fat tabby cat.

“I will close my eyes,” she said. “And when I open then, there won’t be a cat anywhere in sight, and my sisters will be behaving.”

She didn’t actually close her eyes, the sight of the girls dropping the ruffled cat and scrambling back inside was too amusing to miss. Hiking her backpack up, she shook her head to clear it and walked towards the front door.

The door opened before she had time to even start looking for her keys and four pairs of eyes were looking up at her. “Hello, Onee-sama. Welcome home,” Pop was the first to speak.

The other three turned to stare at the shortest girl among them. “Where were you all day?” Cheshire demanded.

“I was being a ninja,” Pop explained, and in a way, it almost made sense.

“Hi, girls,” Taylor said as she moved in. They parted to let her pass and closed the door behind her. “Have you been behaving?” she asked as she tossed her backpack to the side.

Crochet shook her head and started to speak, but a poke from Remedy and all that came out of her mouth was a squeaky, garbled mess.

“Remedy, no messing with your sister’s biology,” Taylor admonished. She gave the little healer a pat on the head, then let go to cup Crochet’s head in both hands. “And could you heal Crochet? She’s covered in little scratches.”

“Yes, Big Sis!” Remedy said. She was quick to grab Crochet’s hand and Taylor watched with avid interest as all the little cuts closed up and disappeared leaving not so much as a blemish behind. “I got rid of the rabies too.”

“Rabies?!” Taylor and Crochet said at the same time.

“Oh yeah, Mister Mittens was filthy,” Remedy said.

“Do I want to know why there was a cat in the house?” she asked. Four pairs of eyes looked down. “That’s what I thought. Thanks, Remedy.” She gave the girl another affectionate ruffle, then did the same to Crochet. “I’m happy you don’t have rabies.” Turning to the other two, she made sure they were in one piece, then placed a hand on each of their heads. “And I’m glad you two didn’t murder... each... other.”

There was something wrong.

Something very, very wrong.

When last she had left, Cheshire did not have cat ears.

Slowly, Taylor pinched one of the ears between forefinger and thumb, then ran her hand up and down the furry ear. Cheshire flinched and the ear twitched out of Taylor’s grasp. “Big sis, that tickles.”

“Uh-huh,” Taylor said. She poked at the ear again, then began running her finger behind it again, just to make sure she hadn’t lost her mind. “Remedy, did you do this?” she asked.

“Cheshire insisted,” Remedy said with the speed of someone running away from blame.

“Yeah, my new ears are totally awesome! I have a tail too!” She shook her butt and Taylor saw a long black tail whipping out behind her.

Taylor let her hand keep stroking Cheshire’s head while she stared and tried to decide what to do.

Then Cheshire, who had been pressing into Taylor’s pets, started to purr.

Everyone paused, even Pop who was usually so quiet went stiff and didn’t so much as fidget. Every eye turned to Cheshire whose dark cheeks were turning a reddish purple as she purred helplessly.

Slowly, ever so slowly, she turned her head towards Remedy and narrowed her eyes.

“I’m going to kill you, nya.” Cheshire froze mid lunge, her hands darted to her throat. “What am I saying... nya?”

Remedy’s smug grin was all the proof Taylor needed to place the blame on her. “Okay, okay, that was funny Remedy. Please fix your sister now.”

“You want me to remove all the changes?” Remedy asked. She widened her eyes and looked at Taylor as if she had just been asked to throw away her favourite toy.

Taylor considered it for a moment. On the one hand, cat ears and a tail were not normal. On the other, she could see Cheshire’s ears pulling back as she glared at Remedy and her tail was whipping back and forth behind her so hard it made her butt wiggle. She could imagine Cheshire with a little bow tied next to her new ears all snuggled up in bed and purring... “No, just the ones Cheshire doesn’t like,” she said. “But in the future you ask me first, okay?”

“Yes, Big Sis.”

“Now, we all need to get ready. We have some... friends to go visit. And we’ll all be on our best behaviour, right?” she asked.

“Yes, Big Sis!” Remedy and Crochet chorused.

“Yes, Onee-sama,” Pop said.

“Nyes, Big Sis, nya,” Cheshire said.

Taylor gave it fifty-fifty odds that New Wave was going to lock her up.