Before they left the shop, Elspeth stopped and turned her head to speak, not fully looking over her shoulder. “As for that ‘on the house’ thing, Kenneth, could you teleport the order to my house, free of charge? Along with some extra alligator scales?”
“Of course, Elspeth. I’ll get on it before the day is done. Hope it all works out!”
Elspeth nodded swiftly without another word, and the two cats exited the establishment with her, tortoise in tow. “Remember: no talking,” she reminded James and Nicola before opening the door. The latter had finished nodding by the time they had stepped outside, with the former still nodding sluggishly by the time they reached the end of the street.
James quietly pondered why it was that Elspeth had insisted that he be kept as a toad, especially aloud and in front of him. She knew he could understand her, after all. Was it a slip of the tongue? Did she not care if he knew? Either way, he was fully enjoying his new form considerably more than his old one. His body was still resonating with bliss after the physical joy of the transformation, with Kenneth’s words resonating in the back of his head.
Increased pleasure each time, multiplied on top of that by how different each change was from the current form. And supposedly it was going to be especially pleasurable for him as a man. What had Kenneth meant by that last part, he wondered?
Elspeth took a swift turn down an empty road, with Nicola and Silas following suit. James, being carried, had little choice. “Let’s try and get home quickly with as few people seeing us as possible,” Elspeth whispered. “A toad hidden in the pocket is wildly less conspicuous than a tortoise in hand.”
The way she had phrased that lead both James and Nicola to think it was some sort of obscure, on-the-nose saying used by witches and wizards. But, remembering what she had asked, they kept quiet.
As they were halfway down the street, however, James felt a familiar sensation take hold of him. Before he could get a hold on the situation, he began to turn into.....