Virelle blinked at the blanket.
Then blinked again.
The empty space beside her pillow, which had, last night, contained a warm-bodied, silver-haired, naked human girl, now contained…
A cat.
Tiny, curled, and purring softly as if nothing had happened.
"…Lia?" Virelle whispered.
The cat lifted her head and blinked slowly.
"Meow."
Virelle stared.
"You're a cat again."
"Meow."
"You… you're not going to explain that, are you?"
"Meow," said Lia with the elegance of someone who had decided that reality was an optional concept.
Ten Minutes Later
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE'S A CAT AGAIN?!" Princess Serenthia screeched, throwing open the door in her nightgown and nearly decapitating a maid with the force of it.
"I—She just—She was a girl, and now she's a cat again!" Virelle said, holding Lia up like a sack of potatoes. "She was lying here with hair and hands and words—well, most of them—and now she's just fluff again!"
Serenthia knelt and squinted at the kitten. "Lia. Blink once if you were a hot girl last night."
Lia blinked.
"And now you're a cat again?"
Blink.
"…Well, that's horrifying."
"Why would she change back?" Virelle asked, pacing across the room. "Was it something we did? Said? Was is something else?"
Lia meowed and rubbed against her shin like she was just as confused as they were.
Serenthia plopped onto the couch dramatically. "So. She turns into a girl. Spends one night being fabulously awkward, then wakes up as a cat again with no explanation. My vacation is officially a fantasy novella."
"She doesn't remember anything past falling asleep," Virelle muttered. "She woke up in cat form. Just like normal."
Serenthia turned to Lia. "Are you cursed? Be honest."
"Meow."
"…That's not an answer."
Later That Morning
Virelle and Serenthia huddled in the manor's library, which now resembled a minor tornado. Books lay open in piles, scattered across tables and couches like defeated enemies. Ancient tomes on magic, divine retribution, shapeshifting, celestial cycles, and obscure mythological curses surrounded them.
Lia, still in her kitten form, sat on the table licking her paw with exaggerated nonchalance.
"Here's a fun one," Serenthia muttered, flipping through a volume on divine punishment. "'Those who defy the will of heaven shall wear the skin of beasts until the heavens forgive them.'"
"Too vague," Virelle said. "That could apply to literally any fairy tale."
"True. How about this?" Serenthia read dramatically: "'Take her eyes.'"
Virelle blinked. "What?"
Serenthia pointed. "It's from this divine scroll. Weird little entry. One line. In gold ink. Doesn't say anything else."
Virelle leaned over the book and read aloud: "Take her eyes. For the sin of witnessing fate unfold and refusing it. Let her see the world through another's form, until the stars deem it earned to return what was taken."
They both fell silent.
Lia, licking her paw, paused mid-lick.
"Okay, that's… disturbing," Serenthia said, sitting back. "But this talks about someone defying fate. I don't think Lia did anything like that."
Virelle frowned.
"…Or did she?"
Lia meowed.
"I mean, maybe this isn't relevant," Virelle said, shaking her head. "It's too cryptic."
She shoved the book aside and reached for another, one bound in navy leather with gilded moons on the spine.
"The Celestial Influence: How Moons Rule Magic."
She opened it and skimmed through, then paused.
"Serenthia."
The princess glanced up, balancing a biscuit on her finger. "Hm?"
Virelle read:
"All magic, both divine and cursed, reaches its pinnacle under the light of the full moon. In the ancient records of the Beast-Clan, it was said that transformations—whether wolf, fox, or feline—occurred only on nights of the full moon, where the lunar pull stirs the soul into remembering its truest form…"
"Full moon…" Virelle whispered.
Serenthia leaned forward. "Wait. The night before Lia turned human—wasn't it a full moon?"
Virelle nodded slowly. "Yes. We were walking in the garden. She fell asleep under the moonlight shone brightest…"
Both girls turned to look at Lia.
Lia blinked.
"Meow."
"She's not cursed to stay a cat," Virelle said. "She's cursed to stay a cat except under the full moon."
"That's oddly poetic," Serenthia muttered.
"But it makes sense," Virelle went on. "The magic must loosen then. The moonlight acts like a key."
"Meaning," Serenthia added, "we'll only get human Lia once a month."
Lia looked mildly horrified.
"…Meow?!"
Afternoon
Back in Virelle's room, the three gathered again.
Virelle now had a small notebook open with diagrams of the moon's cycles and notes written in tidy handwriting.
Serenthia leaned over her shoulder. "So you're building a schedule now?"
"She deserves to know when she'll be human," Virelle said.
Lia lay stretched out on a pillow, tail flicking with a mix of irritation and curiosity.
So I only get to be human once a month. Great. Just like a magic period.
But… at least now we know.
At least now it's not a random curse anymore. It's a pattern. A rule.
And Lia liked rules.
Rules could be broken later.
That night, the full moon was already gone from the sky.
Virelle sat beside the window, watching stars blink awake.
She glanced at Lia, who was curled on her lap again, soft and warm and small.
"I'll help you figure this out," she whispered. "I promise."
Lia purred.
She didn't need words.
She already knew.