All four of the tiny animals exchanged nervous glances as their rescuer entered her own apartment and deftly locked six heavy turn lever padlocks behind her.
This apartment was weird. Dark, bathed in neon light from a number of signs, filled with curiosities, occult items, strange symbols, herbs, crystals.
The four hapless animals looked around in intimidated bewilderment as the woman carried them over to a scratched up desk in the corner and carefully set them down.
The giraffe, nervous, stepped back worriedly as the flamingo and camel looked around in wide eyed concern. The tiny wolf, cautious, stared at the giant human incredulously.
“Okay.” The woman stared in wonder. “Uh... I mean, you’re all intelligent, right?”
The four tiny animals nodded in unison.
“O-Okay. Can...” The woman leaned in and studied all four creatures with strange distant eyes. “I mean, you can’t talk, right?”
The four shook their heads no and glanced at each other nervously.
“It’s weird.” The woman stared at each of them. “You... you don’t feel... your essence is human.”
The four stared at the woman in sudden shock and again looked to each other nervously.
“So, I’m right.” The woman snorted nerdishly as she laughed. Her face suddenly fell very serious as she turned pale. “My God, you’re... you’re human. Who... what happened to you? How?”
The animals all seemed to shiver slightly and in particular the giraffe looked away in shame. The wolf, however, stared at the woman quizzically.
“I’m Shanna.” She held out a finger to the wolf. “I’m, uh, well, I’m a witch. Sort of.”
This got all of their attention. A witch. The wolf nervously backed away and let out a tiny whimper.
“Hey, I don’t know who did this to you, my tinies, but this is a good thing for you! I might be able to help you.” The woman gulped slightly, seeing the trembling giraffe, and quickly rose from her chair. “Hold on! Let’s try something!”
Shanna sat back down holding a strange bone carved symbol on a gold chain. Black feathers hung from the carving. Shanna held it out for the four creatures to inspect and explained gently. “This is a warding charm. Whatever magic or curse it is that has made you this way, little ones, it will help protect you all from more of it.”
The four stared wide eyed. The flamingo in particular was eating it up, eyes wide with childlike mysticism.
“All I have to do is wave this over each of you, and it will dispel whatever darkness is over you. Who’s first?”
The group stepped back behind Reham. The camel chuffed and rolled her eyes, stepping forward and staring up at Shanna.
“All right. Just close your eyes, little camel, and I want you to envision a dark cloud over you.”
The camel nodded gently, obeying nervously.
“Good.” Shanna whispered, raising the charm and waving it in a circle over Reham. “Now imagine that dark cloud lifting and vanishing. Take a deep breath and as you exhale let the darkness draw out of you.”
Reham calmed herself, concentrated, and took a deep breath in, her big chest expanding. She held it instinctively, then the tiny camel exhaled gently. The neon lights flickered suddenly, there was a horrid smell, and a cloud of dusty black mist swirled from Reham’s breath, cloaking her in tendrils of black smoke that rose, expanded, and then vanished into nothing. The lights stopped.
Reham opened her eyes, knowing the ring could no longer change her from a distance, and stared at the dumbstruck expression of Shanna and then her friends.
“Holy shit!” Shanna lifted her charm up for inspection and stared in wonder. “It-it worked!”
All four animals suddenly jolted their gazes up and stared in fresh alarm.
“It’s never worked before.” Shanna blushed, giggling nervously. “Uh, who’s next?”
Erik proudly stepped forward, staring up at the witch Shanna in wonder with big twinkling bird eyes.
“Hey, little bird!” Shanna smiled excitedly. “Same thing, okay?”
Erik nodded and solemnly closed his eyes. He took in a deep breath, Shanna raised her charm, he exhaled, and again the lights flickered and the black something twirled out of him as he exhaled.
Like Reham, Erik felt the weight of the ring’s power lift from him. He gasped out loud and staggered slightly, Reham rushing to his side to steady him along with the wolf as he almost fainted.
“Theeere. Two more to go.” Shanna said gently, patting the tiny flamingo with one giant finger and focusing on the wolf.
The wolf left a startled Erik with Reham and stared up at Shanna nervously. The woman saw the hesitation and held out her charm.
“It’s okay, wolf. It’s just a bit of carved alligator bone. It can’t do anything else to you. I promise.”
The tiny wolf nodded gently and closed her eyes. Shanna worked her magic and the wolf gasped as the same plume of acrid smoke rose from her and vanished.
As it finished, the wolf stepped aside and only the giraffe remained. Yet she stood back nervously, trembling, almost in tears.
“Oh, my little giraffe...” Shanna consoled. “It’s okay! I’m a good witch, friend. I promise. Whatever cruelty you’ve endured that made you all like this, whoever decided to twist your bodies this way, this will make it so that they can’t do it anymore.”
Hearing the reason, and seeing the others nodding enthusiastically, the giraffe stepped forward shakily on the desk and stared up at Shanna, gulping. Ashamed, she turned her backside to the human and Shanna gasped as she saw a tiny hint of dried blood, matted fur, and the obvious signs of something much worse. The giraffe turned around, fresh tears falling, and Shanna desperately reached forward and grabbed the animal to cradle her against her breast.
“My God...” Shanna whispered. “Oh, you poor thing.”
Reham and Erik shot each other a glance and gulped as they remembered their fur and feathers were still covered in dried jizz. They decided not to bring any attention to it.
Shanna carefully put the giraffe down and stared at her pathetic eyes with compassion. “I can’t fix that, honey, but I can keep him from hurting you again.”
Finally, the giraffe underwent the ritual and shuddered as the black something purged itself from her. Her legs shook, she gasped deeply, and she collapsed.
The others and Shanna rushed to help the giraffe, but it was more exhaustion than anything.
“Listen...” Shanna said gently. “I’m going to go run you a warm bath, my tiny friends, and we’ll get you all cleaned up. Then, I’ll make you something to eat. How does that sound?”
All four animals smiled as best as they could and nodded agreeably.
“All right.” Shanna rose gently, carefully putting her charm away and offering her hands to the four.