Kyle, Ally, and Mr. Dormitabis tumbled out of the portal. Alfred landed first, only to be squashed by the combined weight of the two siblings. Unfortunately for her, Ally had reverted back into a German shepherd. The hypnotist pushed the pair off of him, and tried to talk to the dog.
"Ally, are you in there? Why aren't you human? Um... Barbie Doll! No? Why isn't it working? Shit. Of all the rotten luck."
Ally tried to parse the words being flung in her direction. Sadly, most of them were unintelligible to her. She clearly recognized her name, and the "Barbie Doll" command cut through some of the fog, but it was like trying to wade through pea soup. Even concentrating with all her might, she could barely make out one word in ten. She let out a low whine. Why wasn't she back to being human? She knew she was human, which, if the wizard was to be believed, should have been enough to turn her back. Instead, she was stuck on all fours, while Kyle and Alfred started discussing what to do.
"Well, crud." Alfred turned back to Kyle, unhappy with his results.
Kyle was a bit distracted though. Since exiting the portal, he had been holding a leash that was attached to his sister's collar. This was peculiar, since Ally hadn't been wearing a collar before leaving the realm of Talforious. Furthermore, where had the leash came from? It could be useful while Ally was stuck in this form, but that didn't explain anything. He bent down to examine the collar. It was just a simple leather strap, but the dog tag on it caught his eye. The tag listed the dog's name as Sadie, and had his contact information on the back. Even with all the magical stuff they had just been through, this still weirded Kyle out.
Acting on a hunch, he called out, "Sadie!"
Ally immediately perked up, and let out a loud bark. What did he want? Did he want to play? Oh boy, she wanted to play! She wanted to play and fetch... and... She shook her head, and let out a low growl. Where the hell did that train of thought come from? She was a human. She didn't want to play, or fetch... or... Her tail betrayed her, happily wagging as she imagined those scenarios. She lightly panted, envisioning all the fun she might have. It would be so easy to roll over and get a belly rub, and... She growled again, trying to shake away the clearly canine thoughts. She was human, damn it. Disturbingly, a small part of her continued whispering that she was really just a Good Dog.
Kyle considered this new piece of information. Apparently, the dog inside Ally responded to the name Sadie. If he ever got a real dog, he had considered Sadie as a potential name. That desire had implanted itself onto Ally somehow, despite him never vocalizing it. Magic worked in unexpected ways. He filed that knowledge away, and turned back to the problem at hand.
"Well, there's no point in us staying around here." Kyle eventually stated. "Make sure you contact us if Talforious reaches out again."
The hypnotist was clearly not happy with this outcome, but he didn't have any better ideas. "Let me know if there's anything I can do to help. Really, I feel awful about this. I never intended..."
Kyle grimaced. "You and me both." It was one thing to read about stories like this, it was another thing to have it happen in real life.
"Come on Ally, let's go home." He tugged on the leash, and she reluctantly followed behind. She just wanted to be human again, but her body was betraying her at every turn. For instance, she had to deliberately refrain from sticking her head out the window as they made the journey home. She hoped that seeing her bedroom would be the spark that her human side needed to win the fight. However, when they arrived back at their house, something truly unexpected greeted them.