"When people change & make you feel small, I'll tuck you into my pocket & feed you cheese, until courage coaxes the tiger out of your rib cage."

-Curtis Tyrone Jones

"Okay, that's it!" I cried in frustration, while my feet found the floor. I was finally ready to deal with what was inside that drawer, which slammed open in my haste. I couldn't believe my eyes. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" The amulet...wasn't there.

I emptied the drawer in a desperate attempt to find it. All this did was leave me feeling utterly defeated.

Desperate times called for desperate measures. This situation demanded caffeine.

Okay, so I didn't really need an excuse for coffee.

Still, I put on my usual brew and fed the damn cat, then sat down to wait. A breeze blew in from the open kitchen window. The leaves on the trees were all oranges and reds.

Tap, tap, tap. My fingers moved anxiously on the table top. I was supposed to be enjoying my day off, but could not even sit still so instead I paced.

Since mom was at work, the lack of conversation made the usually quiet sounds of the house grow louder. The Felix the Cat clock ticked more loudly every minute. My pacing quickened. The cat munched happily in the background, unaware of my dark, apprehensive mood. The sound began to grate. The crunching of kibble moved to the foreground.

Due to my sudden inability to sit still in this environment and the bothersome ambiance of the kitchen, an action that was incredibly uncharacteristic of me happened next. I abandoned my brewing coffee, slipped on my low-tops, and went outside.

The door slammed behind me. I made my way to the backyard, since it was the most private place outside. The trees that separated our yard from the one next door hid me from view of any pesky, next-door neighbors that might be peeping. I followed the worn out garden path that was mostly grown over with grass. It led to a small pond—my destination.

My jeans made contact with the moist ground at the edge of the water. I half expected to see a faerie looking back at me but, no, this was real life where weird things did not happen.

I was just going to keep telling myself that.

Thus began the process of calming my mind. I sat cross-legged and stared absently into the dark water, concentrating on the feel of the ground beneath me. The wind swatted at my hair like a cat with a ball of yarn. I took the hair-tie that had been secured around my wrist and quickly pulled my hair into a bun so it would stop distracting me from my meditation. I focused on the sounds of the birds and the sight of the squirrels climbing the nearby trees.

Off to the right, blades of grass stirred. I whipped my head in that direction. Usually, I wouldn't pay it any mind but I was feeling a bit antsy due to everything that had gone on the past couple of days.

I tried not to think about the pile of stuff thrown on my floor from where I had searched for the...no, I would not think about it.

Out of the thick of the grass, an itty-bitty creature appeared before me. It stared up at me with squinty eyes. "Oh, hi, little guy." I spoke softly so not to startle it. "What are you doing here?"

It was a mouse.

Now, I'm not the type of girl to jump on top of a chair and scream and squeal "help" at the sight of a cute mouse. Let me tell you a little secret: I've always had an affinity towards tiny creatures. They've always been drawn to me. I wasn't sure why but they've never been afraid of me. I did not figure out that wasn't normal for a really long time. Susie Mae was not happy when I stuck a mouse in the pocket of her pretty pink dress in second grade but, then again, neither was the mouse. That one won me a trip to the principal's office. Dad had thought it was funny, though.

I lost myself in the gaze of the tiny creature. Its eyes...were so familiar. I was swept away staring into them. I felt my bones shift. Compressing. Reshaping. The trees around me grew as tall as redwoods. The sounds got louder, the scents more pungent. I felt vibrations on my whiskers... My...whiskers? What the—?

The world was suddenly so massive. My new form felt the strong urge to hide so that I would not be eaten. I wanted to warn the other mouse, but the little guy was no where to be found. "Little mouse?" My words came out as a squeak.

Great. I've lost it, I deduced. I had gone full-blown crazy. There I was, only yesterday, hatin' on the old lady and now I was a fucking mouse.

Calm down, I told myself. Although, how could I? I was a mouse all alone in this huge world.

A sound came from the left. A distraction! I felt that reverberation in my whiskers again, like an extra sense. Naturally, I scurried in the opposite direction.

I tried to remember how to get home but everything looked so different from down here. On a side note, we really needed to mow our lawn.

Before long, I hatched a plan to follow my nose to the coffee I'd left brewing in the kitchen. I zeroed in on it, used it as a focal point to find my way home. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.

What seemed like miles later, I smelled something new. I couldn't quite put my finger (er, paw), on the odor. "Mrrrooowwwrrr."

Oh, shit. "Leona," I squeaked, "Bad cat."

My colossal feline growled at me. She actually licked her lips. "Leona!" Squeak. "No!" Squeak. "Down!"

It was no use. I bolted and she gave chase. My tiny heart pounded in my tiny mouse chest. Luckily, I managed to crawl under a crack in the siding just as she went at me with her huge, terrifying claws.

I took a moment to catch my breath when I was far enough away from the wrath of my fat cat. "She is not going to get any treats later," I angrily squeaked to myself as I tried to figure a way out of this mess.

My teeny pink nose followed the smell of coffee through cracks in the walls. I fit through spaces that I wouldn't think possible but my little mouse body easily squeezed through. The crack opened up into the crawl space under the house.

Ew! There were spiders down here! Avoiding the gross little eight-legged bastards, I scurried up into a small opening in the corner. I climbed the brick foundation and managed, by some miracle, to find my way into our house. I surfaced behind the oven in the kitchen. Hurriedly, I made my way across the house, climbing under any shelter I could find. The dust bunnies under the couch were bigger than my mouse body.

I darted across the hall and snuck underneath my door. Never have I been so glad to have shut my door behind me.

I was drawn to my reflection. Using my tail to balance myself, I reared up on my hind legs to take a look in my vintage, intricately designed full-body mirror. It was a family heirloom, handed down to me from my Grandmother Ames. It was only thing I had left of her. Morning glory vines colored with chipped gold paint bordered the ovoid glass.

There was dried blood on a raised part of metal on the bottom corner of the morning glory border. I smelled it before I saw it. So that's what I cut my finger on when I tripped!

I looked up at my reflection and reached out to touch the mirror with my hand. On top of my head, there were big, round ears. Beady eyes stared curiously back at me. This form was actually super cute.

Against all odds, it began to move of its own accord. It waved at me and hopped in circles, then ran away to the rightmost corner and pointed downwards to the floor.

Huh? What are you trying to tell me? Lo and behold, the amulet was just chillin' there on the floor behind the mirror looking as innocent as could be. When I touched it, the little mouse in my reflection ran away and slowly faded into nothing until it disappeared. That's when I transformed back into me. I took a peek after my bones were done reforming (take it from me, it's not a pleasant process).

My hair was still in a bun. My clothes weren't ripped or anything like that. I had on baby blue low-tops and ripped skinny jeans. I wore a light blue shirt covered in rainbow stars, with an oversized, faded green flannel shirt over it. I reached out to touch my reflection. I watched it for a while but it didn't do anything out of the ordinary. "Nani the fuck?"

My grip was firm around the amulet. Against my better judgement, I decided to put the damn thing around my neck. Nothing happened. "Well, that was anticlimactic," I scoffed. Still, it looked good on me and I felt safer with it on so I decided to keep it around my neck. I suppose I should be glad for some normalcy after almost being eaten.

The coffee that saved my life deserved to play on my taste buds, so I filled my favorite cactus coffee cup with Captain Ahab's dark roast.

"MEOW." I about had a heart attack at the sound of my cat's cry.

"Leona, you bad kitty! You tried to eat me!" I scolded the cat. Her head tilted to the side in confusion. Earlier, I may have thought that was cute but seeing as I had almost been kitty chow, at that moment I considered becoming a dog person.

"Meow." I don't know. I guess she was still kind of cute.

What the hell just happened? I sipped my coffee while processing. I transformed into a motherfucking mouse.

Should I tell anyone?

Oh, hey mom! What did I do today? Oh, I just transmogrified into a house mouse. It's all good. By the way, there's this magical amulet that just, like, appeared in my room right after I had a couple visions of it. Yeah, the usual...

She'd have me committed!

Honestly, I hadn't the faintest idea what to do with myself. Trying to meditate launched me into another world and going outside turned me into a mouse.

Surely watching TV had to be safe, right? I parked myself on the couch and turned on the television. I decided against animal documentaries for now and flipped to some cartoon. This had to be okay.

The show started off in a classroom. My mom was a teacher here at the only elementary school in town. We hopped around from one town to another all my life and mom carried on the tradition with this town after dad's death. I don't know when she'd figure out that distance doesn't make the pain go away.

Before dad died, I studied at university in Berkeley, California but I rejoined mom shortly after so she wouldn't be alone.

Tears formed in my eyes and the figures on the screen blurred.

Dad had walked into his office the day he died, right before an explosion in the building set it on fire. There was nothing left of dad to mourn besides his memory.

Now, flames were all I could see reflected on the TV screen.

The flames gave way to a new setting and I couldn't change the channel this time. "Dear sister!" A bitter soprano echoed along the walls of an archaic stone hallway, orbs of light flickering dimly every few feet. I had a very bad feeling. "Don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you." The tone of her voice and sadistic expression on her face said otherwise. Her features were stony to her twin's soft, delicate face. Even though they were identical twins, I would never mistake one for the other.

The one with short hair and dark, tattered wings rounded the corner and smiled harshly. "There you are. I knew I would find where you were hiding eventually."

"What do you want?" The one with the long, wild hair and almond eyes crouched against a wall and hid in the darkness, no fear in her eyes. Her expression was angry but not evil like that of her twin's.

The vile witch mimicked her. "What do you want?" Her voice went up an octave. Her attempt at a facade of innocence grated against my ears. She totally failed at it. "Why can't we just get along? Can't I have a talk with my big sister without it turning into a fight? I love you, you know." The anger dissolved from the face of the faerie who rose from her position on the cold, damp stone floor. The witch cackled, "Ha! You should see your face! All hope of that ended long ago."

Her eyes greyed and her shoulder-length cut lost its color. Dark, thorny tattoos started at her navel and circled around, covering her torso and forming half-sleeves down her arms. They showed through the pelt dress she wore, which exposed her midriff and did not leave much to the imagination. Symbols that appeared on her hand glowed blood red.

Though the two were inside a dank castle dungeon, grim clouds formed over the head of the good sister. It began to rain on her and she shivered in response. "You don't have to do this, Cacia." The rain froze and a mist surrounded her suddenly.

"Don't call me by that childish nickname." An idea popped across that wicked visage. The other faerie winced slightly as the sleet turned to hail and pelted her. "Since we are traveling back to the little years with such names, Nana, why don't we play a game?" She laughed her twisted laugh. "It feels like forever since we've played a game. Doesn't it, big sister?"

Nana turned wistful for a moment. "Cass, please." Her eyes pleaded with her sister to stop this. The hail grew larger and she transformed in a similiar fashion. Her white hair framed her pale, glittering face and swirling, mystical tattoos danced across her skin. Her very presence whispered grace though she stood still.

She had wildflowers placed intermittently through the strands of her untameable hair and a necklace of clovers around her neck. Around her chest, she wore a yellow bandeau made of lace and the bottom half of her was covered by a short, black tulle skirt. Yellow lace shaped like flowers patterned her legs and her feet were slipped into black ballet slippers. Her shield went up with blue luminescent magic to protect herself from the ice storm, which continued to grow in size.

"Don't you see?" Cacia guffawed. "My powers will always be greater than yours! You are weak!"

Nana's face turned pleading. "You don't have to do this, Cass!" she shouts over the roar of the storm. Her shield began to falter. The hail that breached it bruised her face. A tear froze on the way down her cheek.

"Actually, I do." She raised her hand and lightning struck. "Goodbye, sister."

The scream that wrenched from my throat echoed off the walls. An innocent cartoon played in the background; the flames that pulled me in moments ago were gone.

Okay. TV, not safe. I got the feeling nothing was safe anymore.

An increasingly familiar curly-haired man barreled through the door. In a worried voice, he asked, "Are you okay?" He fell down to his knees before me but I barely noticed him. Was my faerie okay? I had grown accustomed to her presence these days. What the hell was happening to me? Why did all of this feel so real? Why was it all spiraling out of control? It had started off as an innocent escape.

"What is happening...to...me?" Tears spouted from my eyes, ran rampant down my cheekbones, and fell freely onto the man before me. He pulled me into an embrace, too tender for someone I'd just met. So, why didn't I care that this madness was driving me into the arms of a stranger? He seemed to be the only one here for me these days.

"Riona, I am so sorry that you have to go through this all alone." The way he spoke his words raised my hackles. I pushed him back so that I could see his face. An ancient sadness consumed the orbs staring straight through my soul.

I gritted my teeth. "Go through what alone? What do you know?"

He looked away, forelorn. "I can't tell you."

"You can't tell me what? And why the hell not?" I was shouting at him now. He pulled away and sat on the ottoman, while frantically running his fingers through the mass of hair on the top of his head.

His breath escaped him in a long gust. "Look, I am here for you. I will be right here, whenever you need me...and when you don't, I will be right next door in case you do." He ground his teeth in frustration and his fingers pattered anxiously beside him. He looked so frazzled. "However, I cannot tell you what is happening to you. You have to figure that one out for yourself. I can listen, if you wish to tell me. I won't judge you and nothing you say will surprise me. I will not betray your confidence. You can trust me."

My voice rose. "How can I trust you? Who are you?!" I jumped out of my seat and paced the floor.

He looked sullen. "I can't tell you that either. I have orders."

"Orders from who?!" His face is stricken with grief but he couldn't talk about it. A sigh rushes out my lips. "All I know is I can't get a grip. I keep seeing things...impossible things. Then, I wake up to find this," I grab onto the sapphire around my neck. "And then I turn into a..." How can I even say the words aloud?

"You transformed already?" His eyes were disturbed. He wanted to tell me whatever it was that he knew and I deserved to know what was happening to me. Maybe I could get it out of him, I thought, so I made my best attempt at collecting myself.

"Would you like some tea?" Mum always put on tea when I was upset. He eyed me suspiciously at the unexpected turn the conversation took. I did my best to wear a halo over my head.

"That would be lovely. Thank you." He stood up and followed me when I beckoned him to do so.

"Please, sit." He obeisantly ensconced himself on one of our dining room chairs. He looked too big for the room but maybe that was because I was used to seeing a small woman settled there.

Just like the day we met, I tried to flirt the information out of him. I removed my flannel and hung it over a chair. "It's getting a little hot in here, don't you think?"

Hey, don't judge me. After all, he was keeping secrets; therefore, he deserved the full scope of my feminine wiles. Hmph.

He raised one eyebrow and looked me over, concerned. "Listen, Riona." I put the kettle on one of the burners, then turned the knob to a medium-high heat. He carefully watched my every move.

"Are you hungry? I need to get dinner started anyway."

Yep. I had spiraled into a fantasy world where I saw winged-creatures and I spent my afternoon on the run from my kitty cat, but inviting this man to dinner was the last straw. I had finally lost it.

But he needed to stay long enough to tell me what I needed to know.

He seemed justly exasperated. "Uh, sure." Gee, I sucked at this flirting thing. He crossed one leg over the other and laid his chin to rest on his hand. "Riona, I can tell you one thing. No matter what you do, keep that amulet on at all times."

Ah, one more puzzle piece laid into place. I could already innately feel that this amulet was mine. It belonged around my neck and I did not want to part with it. I was holding the fridge open and searching for ingredients for dinner when something struck me. "It was you!" How did I not see it before? "I told you that it was in Nana's drawer, in the treehouse." I had a name for her now. I would cherish it. "I thought I was imagining it because I drank too much last night. You went there and brought it back for me, didn't you? That means her house in the woods is real! Then, you snuck into my room and placed it on my night stand! That was all you."

He suddenly seemed bashful. "See, you'll figure it out in no time at all."

I sank down to the floor. The fridge slowly closed shut. "That means faeries...they're real." I'm sure my face was haunted by what I saw in that dungeon. "That means she is in trouble! We have to help her!"

"No, you're not ready yet. You have to stay here for now."

I gave up on my weak attempts at flirtation and lost it again. "Stay here? When I know she's real and she needs me?"

He crossed the room and came down to my level. He placed his hands on my shoulders and looked deeply into my eyes. "You. Are. Not. Ready." He gently grabbed my chin. "Not yet. Soon, you will be."

"But what about her? Can't you go protect her?" I didn't know this man very well but he straight up came off like a gangster at the bar the other day.

He shook his head. "My place is here with you. She can protect herself." He smiled ever so slightly. "Besides, she would never forgive me if I chased her down and abandoned you here." He picked me off my feet and pulled me in for a hug. His voice was but a whisper, "You'll do the most good here right now. Where I can look after you while you figure this out. I believe in you, Cat."

"I believe in you, Cat," a black-haired man yelled from the bleachers. "You can do it!" I tried my best to keep the soccer ball from hitting the net behind me but the players on the other team were good.

This particularly nasty little boy on the field opposite me, who had glared at me the whole time while we were warming up, was here now faking me out left and right. He was sizing up my weaknesses so that he could score. His eyes burrowed through me and I froze. The ball reeled past me, and the other team scored the winning goal.

The scene around me broke into pieces and I was back in the treehouse. Nana laid there on her cot, peacefully dreaming. I climbed over her and wrapped my arm around her. I was so glad that she was safe. My eyes stared up at the portraits on the ceiling. A tiny butterfly walked along the edge of one of the paintings.

When it noticed me staring, it crawled behind the painting. I stood up and raised up the portrait to check behind it. The butterfly had vanished. On the portrait, a woman with blue eyes and auburn hair was kissing Nana on the cheek. The woman had pointed ears, dark red lipstick painting her plump lips, and wore a glittering red gown with long, see-through sleeves. She had the amulet around her neck, like all the other girls in the pictures.

I opened my eyes to find the mundane, tile-floored kitchen right where I left it. And a not-so-mundane man still had his arms wrapped around me.

He felt warm, just like the woman who had been in my arms moments before. "What did you see?" He asked patiently.

The question of the hour was brought back to the light: just who was this guy?