Chapter 8
Edith had been doing a lot of thinking, which, in her opinion, was deeply unfair. Because thinking led to spiralling and spiralling led to dramatic conclusions.
And dramatic conclusions usually ended with phrases like, “I might have to leave everything I love behind,” which, frankly, she did not recommend as a bedtime activity.
And yet here she was, curled into her little nest of blankets on the end of Jessica’s bed, tail tucked neatly around herself, wings folded tight.
The room was quiet, warm, and faintly smelled like something comforting.
Lavender, maybe, or whatever Jessica had been experimenting with recently.
Jessica herself wasn’t there, she’d been spending more time down in the nursery with Dave, which Edith completely understood and was not at all sulking about. Well maybe only a little.
Edith huffed softly, settling her chin onto her paws.
“Fine,” she muttered sleepily. “I don’t need supervision. I am perfectly capable of existing independently and making excellent life choices.” She paused. “Mostly.”
Even with the overthinking, her eyes grew heavy. The events of the day, hunters, panic, grotto explosions, existential dread finally caught up with her. Her breathing calmed and evened out, her body relaxed and, for the first time since she’d seen them, she actually slept.
Krakens Hollow breathed, it always did. Magic threaded through its walls, ancient and aware, shifting in ways most never noticed.
But tonight it changed, it was subtle at first, almost a ripple and a pull, something old recognising kindred magic.
Edith lay still, small and curled, her scales catching faint glimmers of light as the magic stirred around her.
Then the magic shifted, The air thickened, colours morphed, unseen blues and greens bled into deeper hues, into purples that echoed something buried beneath her skin.
Her small form trembled, but she slept on.
The shift wasn’t violent, not even painful, but it wasn’t gentle either.
It was… inevitable. Magic moved through Edith like a tide she couldn’t stop.
Her scales softened and her limbs lengthened, her little wings dissolved into something else entirely.
Edith’s body stretched, reshaped, reformed, and returned her to something she had not been in a very long time.
Human.
The blankets tangled around her as she shifted, no longer curled but sprawled awkwardly across the bed, long limbs where there had once been small, compact ones.
Bare skin where there had been scales. And hair, long, bright and unmistakable.
A vivid cascade of purple spilling across the pillow.
The magic faded then settled, almost satisfied, and not-so-little Edith kept sleeping, her light snores filling the room.
Edith woke slowly, consciousness taking it’s sweet time to return, yet something felt wrong, heavy… big. Her brow furrowed but she didn’t open her eyes, instead she focused on what she felt. Her limbs felt strange, uncoordinated, and she was… cold… mainly her arse… why was her arse cold?
Edith blinked her eyes open and immediately regretted everything, because Jessica was standing over her, and Jessica was not calm.
“WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!” Jessica yelled, her voice shrill with panic.
Edith flinched violently, her entire body jerking upright in an attempt to move, which was a mistake. Because her balance had gone, her centre of gravity felt completely wrong.
“Oh shi…!” she yelped, arms flailing as she tried to steady herself, it was only then she looked down. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me.”
Edith was human, long legs, rounded hips and…
“OH FOR—” Edith squawked, immediately scrambling backward, grabbing for anything to cover herself.
No wonder her arse was cold. She was naked, completely.
Boobs and arse out for the world to see kinda naked.
In a rush she managed to snag a blanket and yank it around herself just as Jessica took a step closer, eyes wide, panic fully engaged.
“Where is she?!” Jessica demanded. “Where’s Edith?! What did you do with her?!”
“I didn’t…!” Edith started, then stopped because standing was suddenly a very ambitious goal, her legs wobbled.
“Why are there so many joints?!” she hissed, gripping the edge of the bed for balance.
Everything felt bloody weird and her skin felt far too tight, it had been a long time since she had taken this form, her head swam a little.
“This is… this is deeply unpleasant,” she muttered.
“Answer me!” Jessica snapped.
Edith looked up, clutching the blanket tighter, her bright purple hair falling into her face.
“I am…” she started to say, but as she formed the words footsteps thundered down the hall, followed by raised voices the rest of the house arriving at speed.
“Jess?! What’s going on?!” Dave called.
“Who is that?!” someone else added.
“Why is there a naked person in the room?!”
“WHERE IS EDITH?!” Jessica repeated, now fully spiralling.
Edith winced, pressing a hand to her temple. “Stop…” she said weakly, putting a hand to her head.
No one stopped, of course no one stopped… Because why would they?
Her vision blurred slightly, the dizziness got worse.
“Oh, that’s…” she swallowed hard. “That’s getting worse.”
Edith swayed where she stood, gripping the blanket like it was the only thing tethering her to reality.
“I am—” she tried again, her voice thinner now. “I am Edith…”
No one reacted fast enough, because the moment hung… Just long enough.
“And stop screaming,” she added faintly, “you’re giving me a headache.”
Then Edith dropped, hitting the deck in a dead faint before anyone could move.