Dan's moment of existential dread was snapped by the sound of the phone ringing. Dan blinked and scuttled into the living room to pick it up. He had a bit of difficulty rearing up to grab it from the hook, however.
"Damn it!" he said after his third failed attempt to grab it with his fore-feet. He knew he couldn't use his claws, he'd snap it in two. With a groan, he realized it had stopped ringing, but no message was being recorded.
"Great, all that effort for a telemarketer..."
Suddenly a blue ball of light popped into existence right in front of him. Dan yelped and scuttled back.
"Dan, honey? Don't worry, it's just me!" said his mother's voice from the orb.
"MOM?!"
"You didn't pick up the phone, I thought maybe your transformation was giving you difficulty. Good thing I called to check-in, you need me to pop home and get you a tank set up? You can last over a day without it but I can't imagine it's comfortable..."
"Mom! Why are you doing this to me?!"
His mother sounded confused.
"What? Honey, what are you talking about-"
"Kat's turning me into a lobster and you're letting her!"
"Well, yes, didn't she-"
"How could you let her turn your own son into seafood?!" Dan said with increasing distress.
"DANIEL!"
He stopped, arrested less by magick and more by the commanding tone of his mother.
"...Dan, honey. Do you...do you think this...is *permanent*?"
Hope flared.
"It's...it's not???"
"...No. No, Dan, of course not, oh you must have been so scared...Honey, tell me exactly what it is your sister told you she was doing."
Dan searched back to his memory of this afternoon.
"She said...she said she was placing a curse on me, one that would make me the animal I really am deep inside."
"...And that's *all* she said?" his mother asked; he knew that tone, and from experience, he knew he was increasingly glad to be a lobster-boy rather than Kat, at least once Mom got a hold of her.
"Well, she also said some stuff implying..."
"That you were gonna be dinner. Ugh. I should have sent the pair of you to therapy years ago, your sibling rivalry is well out of hand - and she's always been the worse of you, yes, before you say anything, but you're no walk in the park for her some days."
"Well, yeah, but I wouldn't have made her into shellfish!"
"I see what you're trying to say, but suffice it to say it's a good deal more complex than that. Ok, hon, can you hold on just a second? I'm going to go chew out your sister, who is then going to pop home and give you the PROPER explanation she was SUPPOSED to do when she enchanted you to begin with."
Dan listened intently, hearing the sounds of what seemed like a party, albeit a very subdued one. He heard his mother interrupt a conversation an older sounding woman was having with her sister, and then the sound of the party died considerably. He heard his mother whispering fiercely to Kat, clearly very angry. Kat appeared to attempt to protest, but after a moment of silence Kat suddenly became very agreeable, her voice notably quailed.
'Ope,' Dan thought, 'Mom gave her The Look.'
A moment later his mother's voice returned.
"Ok, Dan, Kat's gonna pop in for a few minutes, answer every single question you have - if she knows what's good for her," his mother added with audible menace clearly not meant for him, "and then come back here to the Sabat."
"So you ARE at some witch party."
"Yes, but it's more like Kat's debutant ball. Her actual party, with friends and such, will be tomorrow - assuming I don't decide to ground her into the next geological epoch."
"Mooom..." Kate said distantly, as from behind her.
"Alright, alright, get going. Talk to you this evening Dan! OH! I almost forgot, if you need me for anything - ANYTHING - just call for me, as loud as you can; I'll hear you, okay sweetie?"
Dan felt his heart melt at the motherly affection.
"Yeah. Thanks Mom."
The light winked out. Dan looked around nervously, then there was a loud POP! and Kat was standing there, in a nice evening dress, looking seriously peeved. Dan coughed.
"Ahem."
"Yeah, yeah, sorry for making you think you were lunch, you little twerp. I never meant it, you know, I just liked you being scared."
"The FUCK?! Christ, Kat!"
Kat looked nervous and motioned for him to calm down.
"Hey, easy, the Powers That Be pay attention to witches more than vanilla mortals, don't blaspheme any major religious figures when I'm in smiting distance. Jesus, Buddha, Friga, anybody, be polite when you mention them around me...Er...especially not when I've just done a less-than-ethical thing. They might take it as a request for divine intervention..."
Dan grinned suddenly, and Kat looked sick.
"Oh, so you could get into even more trouble than you're already in with Mom?"
Kat gulped.
"Yeah, well, look, I'm not in trouble for turning you into a lobster. I was SUPPOSED to do that."
"What?" Dan asked, looking confusedly from his claws to his sister and back again. "But WHY?"