"A few miles sounds like a lot," Gaige began, gathering up the empty plates. "But it won't be once you walk outside. Usually I just take the bus, but I was thinking today..." he trailed off, tail flicking nervously left and right for a few seconds. "I was hoping we could walk. Well, you would walk. Obviously. You're the only one with legs here. But I'd weigh like nothing. Marissa might not have an apprentice she would keep in her pocket, but that doesn't mean you couldn't bring a snake along in one. If you, uh... don't mind. We can set up some other way in the future. Marissa could probably help you with a teleportation spell. But I've never really got to see the town I live in the way you see it."
Walking a few miles doesn't sound that hard, really. Now if you had to make the trip in the middle of the night, looking like a teenager, you might have second thoughts. Maybe you'll turn and run halfway there, try and get back to your own place. But if you're going to try and escape, this doesn't seem like the right time. You barely understand what's going on, and haven't had the chance to make allies. You'll probably have a chance to escape, if you're alert into the long term. "I can take you," you say. "Walk, I mean. If you can give me directions. I lost everything when Marissa... recruited me."
You reach down compulsively for your phone, but of course it isn't there. You do find something tucked into a pocket, something you don't remember being there before. It's a little pink purse, which clicks open easily in your hands. There's maybe twenty dollars of cash in there, a single debt card, a student ID from the local high-school, and a driver's license.
You slip out the last of these, staring at it. It's nothing special--a photo of you in the DMV, wearing a skirt and plain blouse and giving the same flat expression you had in your real ID. The birthdate was even right, albeit several years more recent than it should've been.
"Not everything," Gaige rinsed the dishes quickly, barely looking up at you as he worked. "The second bedroom is yours. She dropped a few boxes of clothes off a few days ago, and there's some furniture left over from my old roommate. I didn't really clean it, so sorry about the red fur everywhere. Squirrels shed like crazy."
Of course you want to know what that means--but that's as true about his roommate as everything else. You should probably focus on the questions you can get answered, before you're completely overwhelmed. If Marissa could change your ID, there probably isn't an apartment for you to run to. Is your entire old life gone? Would your parents and friends even remember your name?
You'll ask Marissa the next time you see her. In the meantime, you have to do a little of what you've been dreading. You make your way into the bedroom he indicated. sure enough, it has been stripped empty, though there are hundreds of little red hairs visible in cracks and corners of the carpet, or sticking out from under the mattress. You'll need several lint-rollers to clean a place like this.
A set of clean linens is folded near the foot of the bed, along with a few plastic boxes filled with clothes. You dump several of them out, and make it as far as the underwear before grabbing a fistful of whatever you can find and storming over to the restroom.
You make everything inside take as little time as possible, just a quick rinse so you feel like a human being again. Instead of paying any attention to what happened, you hum to yourself, distracting you from the occasional flash of strange sensations that assault you. Drying is worse, but you muscle through, pulling into the outfit as quickly as you can. You suddenly have cause to regret not being more thoughtful, as the clothes are an absolute mess. You didn't grab a bra, you have one short sock and one black one that goes all the way to your knees, the skirt is plaid and way too short... basically nothing is right.
You put it all on anyway, right down to the stupid sleeveless vest and the hair tie. But if you didn't do something with all that hair, it would probably start shedding just like the one who lived there before you.
You emerge a few minutes later, looking like a bomb went off in a thrift store. Gaige turns to stare as you walk into the kitchen, his tail curling briefly around himself. "Well, Day. That's... that's how you're going to work?"
"I’m a witch," you tell him. "How are witches supposed to look?"
He raised both hands defensively. "Fine with me. Just so long as you're still going to walk us there. Looks like there's a pocket in that vest you're wearing, so that's perfect.
You nod. "So what, we just... walk out?"
"Yep." He gestured to the door. "I've learned through sad experience that the biggest ones go first. Otherwise, people get stepped on. That's all kinda bad. But I'll follow you!" He throws on a heavy jacket hanging by the door, along with a scarf.
"Did it start snowing or something, Gaige?"
He laughs nervously. "Oh, y-yeah. No snow. I'm just sensitive to temperature, that's all. Marissa put a heat lamp in the potion room for me, but there's nothing like that in your pocket."
You don't object. At this point, you just need to be out of this place. Maybe after going for a walk you'll feel better about everything, even if you're not prepared to accept any of what Marissa is selling.
stride out the apartment door, and find nothing at all unusual there--it looks exactly like you remember from the day before, with no sign of being a few inches tall. At least until you hear a tiny voice from behind you, barely audible over the drone of a central heater. "Day! Day, back here!"
You look, and sure enough the naga is there. Though like he said, some things have changed. He's maybe a foot long, a tiny black snake with white lines down his side. Except he's still got a human half, he's still standing the same way he did before. You stare, transfixed, as he makes his way over. You can see the apartment just behind you, at the exact size it was. Yet here he is.
"Can I come up? This floor is pretty cold, Day!"
You don't even think, lowering one arm to him. You're not sure exactly what he'll do, but then he slithers right up into your hand, wrapping once around your arm. He's a fairly skilled climber for not using any hands to do it. You lift your hand back up, then straighten. When you finally have his face closer to yours, you can see his face is bright red.
"Hey, uh... Day? Not that I know anything about being a witch, but... you might want some bicycle shorts if you go with a skirt that short. For the future."
You blush just as brightly, shoving your hand into the vest pocket. Of course he'd say something like that. Stupid teenagers.
You kick the door closed, then hesitate by the little boxes. Justin would be bored out of his mind if you left him here all day, that just wouldn't be fair. You find the right box, then open it. The little bird is waiting inside. He chirps happily, fluttering over to your shoulder. "This is so exciting!" he says, and he sounds like he means it. "First day with a witch of my own!"
You step out into the windy morning. Your town is there, exactly as you remember it--or almost. It's as though the city grew in your sleep. The cars loom larger, the buildings go higher, even the light poles are different.
"It's down Pine!" says a little voice from your other side. "Keep going two blocks, then go under the bridge."
You could do that, or you could go somewhere else. Your old apartment isn't far in the opposite direction...