It took some convincing to get Terry to meet with us, despite Connie knowing about this past embarrassing moments. I couldn’t really blame him for being hesitant to believe my predicament, but I hoped that after thinking it over he would come to the conclusion that it was exactly the kind of situation I would get myself in to. I had always assumed that someone had to have been looking for me and Terry would have known where to search for me and he would have stumbled upon my car and ritual site. It would not have been a far stretch to believe that I had disappeared due to a magical mishap.

I hated being in a pet carrier more than anything else I had experienced in my life. It was demeaning and made me feel helpless, it didn’t help that the cat part of my brain raged against the audacity for any other being to restrict my movement. I was “behaving” and not being a growling spitting mess, but that was only due to my rational thoughts continuously reminding me that it wasn’t Connie’s fault that society did not look kindly on having pets running around freely in public areas.We had decided that the safest place to meet him, for both parties, was at a local coffee shop that had outside tables. There would be enough eyes on us in case things got weird(well, weirder than a talking cat), but not enough to draw unwanted attention.

“Shouldn’t be much longer, I hope,” Connie said. She swirled her latte and took a sip.

The strong smell of coffee made my nose wrinkle in disgust. Through a cat’s nostrils, the scent was unbearably bitter and acrid, so unappetizing that it made my stomach rumble and I felt like gagging, the feeling was worse than what I experienced when I would get hairballs. As a human, I rather enjoyed the rich flavor and smell of coffee, fresh brewed was always the best, but I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to forget how the feline senses experienced it.

“There he is, I think.” Connie pointed to a man who had just walked up to the counter. She re-positioned my cat so that I could see him better. “At least he looks a lot like the profile picture.”

Peering through the bars, I assessed the tall man and how he held himself. It had to be Terry, his gait and the confidence with which he held himself was unmistakable. I had yet to meet another person as self-confident of themselves as Terry without being conceded or egotistical. He was always sure of his abilities and was more often than not, correct about how spectacular his magical abilities were. He seemed to live in tune with the magical world, constantly weighing and evaluating the magical flows that not only swirled in his own body, but in others and the world around him. I was not surprised that he was still in the city after all these years, he wouldn’t need to travel to find success or better circumstances, he was the type of person how could manipulate the world around him to fit his needs.

Terry caught sight of us after picking up his coffee order and gave us a short nod of recognition, Connie had been sure to provide a picture of herself ahead of time. He strolled over casually, looking curiously at my cage. With only a few feet to spare between us, his eyes lit up and a grin broke across his lips.

“You really did do this to yourself,” he stated with a low chuckle. “I thought that surely, of all the outcomes I had imagined for you, that it wouldn’t be something so silly as this, but look where we are.”

I let out an annoyed meow and pushed my paws against the door.

“I’m sure you want out of there, you were never one that liked to be tied down in any way, romance or life in general.”

Connie looked around and seeing no one around to complain, she opened the door of the carrier, providing me with sweet freedom. After stretching my way out of the cell, I instantly felt better about the entire situation. It was amazing how a change of scenery could change your entire perspective.

“I didn’t bring his laptop and keyboard,” Connie explained, “it would have been too bulky and obvious..”

“Ah of course, and please excuse my rather rude greeting,” he apologized. “Normally I would have greeted the lady first, but I was so stunned to see my friend after all these years that I temporarily forgot my manners.”

“No problem,” Connie replied, outstretching her hand for a handshake, “I’m sure you were shocked to realize that I wasn’t just some crazy person.”

Terry chuckled and sat in front of me, studying my feline form. “How did this happen?” He asked, seeming to have temporarily forgotten that I couldn’t do anything but meow.

“He said he tried to do some kind of ritual to sync the ‘wild’ energy of the wilderness to himself and become a stronger practitioner, “ Connie explained. “Then something went wrong and he transformed instead.”

“No, it sounds like the ritual went exactly as intended.” Terry shook his head and leaned down so that his eyes were at my height. “You are exactly the embodiment of wilderness magic in this form. You are an animal that can never truly be domesticated and lives a selfish, chaotic life. Seems to me that you got exactly what you asked for, you just didn’t know what you were asking for.”

I stared at him with annoyance, he was usually right about these kinds of things, much to my irritation. Thinking of it from his perspective, I could see how the ritual could have had this outcome, magic does not care much about intention and often goes with the most literal interpretation of your desires. I couldn’t deny that I had certainly been in touch with the wilderness energy of the world.

“We can get you right though, I’m sure of it,” he continued. “We just need the right ritual.”

“Oh, he’s already outlined the ritual and the timing, we’re just waiting for the correct moon phase.”

“Hmm, has he?” Terry looked to me and shook his head. “Just from what I remember about you, I’m assuming you think that you can simply reverse the ritual and get your form back?”

I meowed back in response. Of course I would think to just reverse the ritual, that made the most sense. If you tie yourself up in knots, you reverse your actions to undo them, making new knots only makes the situation worse.

“I guess it’s not your fault, you’ve been away for so long that you’re completely out of the loop for how magic theory and philosophy has progressed in the past couple decades. We need a completely new ritual to restore you and connect you back to the magic of humanity.” He paused for a moment in his explanation to sip his drink and clear his throat. “Essentially, we need to do a ritual to turn you back into a human and not worry about ‘undoing’ what you already did.”

I pondered his idea and decided that I would trust his new knowledge. Terry was from a powerful family line much like mine and he had been able to practice all these years while my abilities had languished and become stunted. There wasn’t much worse that could happen to me at this point, I had already lost a large chunk of my lifetime to this mistake, so even if he was wrong, there wasn’t much for me to lose.

“Well there’s no time like the present, what do you think?” He sat back in his chair with a smile, motioning towards the pet carrier.

“Already?” Connie seemed stunned, looking at my old friend in disbelief.

“Yes, why not? Unless he has some attachment to this cat body of his. The new schools of thought on magic don’t bow to the rhythms of the moon cycle or draw power from the inky depths of night. Practitioners have discovered much more powerful spells and rituals that make magic more streamlined and powerful.” Terry looked to me and gave a nod of his head. “I have so much to teach and show you once you’re restored. You’ve missed more than you can imagine, friend.”

I nearly fell over my own paws as I scrambled get back into the damnable cage. I no longer cared that I would feel restricted or confined, I yearned for the chance to be free from my fuzzy imprisonment. I pulled the carrier doors closed with my front paws and meowed desperately for them to get the show on the road and get going towards my salvation.

A short taxi ride later, we were in the suburbs of the city, a quiet little section that I remembered being part of a fairly affluent section of the county. The houses we passed were nicely painted with manicured lawns and had mildly expensive cars parked in the front yards. It was an area that Terry had always expressed a desire to “retire” to and it looked like he had at least met that goal. We arrived at a townhouse painted a dusky green with a gleaming motorcycle parked in the cobblestone driveway. The bark of a dog erupted from the fenced in back yard, it’s smell cloying and musty in my nostrils. I tended to avoid all areas that smelled heavily of dog to an effort to not have to smell their scent. I completely understood why cats tended to keep their distance from their cliché foes. Once inside, Connie opened the door to my cage and let me free. My paws thumped down into tall, soft carpet and the air was filled with a confusing mishmash of traditional ritual scents. Spices, herbs, and resins swirling their scents together to give away to anyone that knew that the occupant was a magic practitioner.

“Make yourselves at home,” Terry instructed after leading us to his spacious living room. “It will take me a few minutes to get all the things we’ll need scrounged up. Some of it I hadn’t even though about for years. If you need anything to drink or eat, the kitchen is right next door.”

Connie unclasped the pet carrier and set me on the couch so that I could get out and stretch my legs. The living room was fairly luxurious, the couch beneath me a rich, black velvet that I felt bad for putting my feet on. There was a fireplace in the center of the room with a hardwood mantle carved to resemble natural branches snaking together to create the ledge. On either side of the great centerpiece, there were French doors that opened upon a large backyard. I found myself drawn to the glass of the door and peering out into the yard. The yard was filled with furniture, an expensive looking smoker, and a large fire pit that looked like it got quite a bit of use. It was everything we had dreamed about for ourselves in our mid twenties, though I had thought that neither of us would ever find that level of success. I was both incredibly happy for him and incredibly jealous.

“Here we go,” he said, returning to the room. He had a large box in his arms and he motioned for us to follow him with his head. “Follow me to the basement, my ritual set up is down there.”

We followed him through the kitchen to the attached basement entrance, descending into a space that smell almost overwhelmingly of the ritual items stored there. It was almost too much for me to handle, my eyes feeling like they wanted to pop out of my head as I was wracked with several deep sneezes in a row that threatened to knock me off my feet. At the bottom of the stairs, my sneezing mercifully subsided and we were met with burgundy painted room filled with candles, books, and a ritual instrument collection that I could have only dreamed of. With a wordless wave of his hand, the candles in the room lit in unison, casting firelight around the room and catching in precisely placed mirrors to reflect the light and brighten the whole room.

Connie gasped in surprised and it dawned on me that even though it was such a simple trick, she had never seen magic happen in real life. Terry looked at her with amusement, but saved her the embarrassment by not saying anything about it. Instead he set the box on a table and began to pull out ritual instruments, my ritual instruments, that had been left in that field so long out. I let out a loud, excited meow followed by jumping up on the table to touch the things that I had assumed were long gone.