Callie was happy for Tim when she saw that he'd been restored to his normal human form. Really, she was. Okay, yes, there was a part of her that wondered why she hadn't just accepted his gift on Christmas Day, and taken the opportunity to become human again herself. But she didn't let herself dwell on that thought for very long, and she never brought it up when Mindy was around.
What had troubled her more was the thought that Tim would disappear into the background of their lives, right where he had been before Halloween, a neighbor rather than a friend - even after everything that the three of them had shared. But she shouldn't have been worried. When Tim came back from his appointment, he promised he would help out whenever he was needed, and he was as good as his word. Better than his word, actually, because sometimes when he dropped by, he brought Penny with him as an extra pair of unmodified hands. And the two of them seemed awfully sweet together, too.
As the cold days of January flew by, the question of what could have been receded further from Callie's mind. Her desire to be normal again wasn't quite as urgent as it once was. She couldn't say that she was actually getting comfortable in her pink, lightly hairy skin, but there were days when she didn't check the calendar to see how many dozens of squares still separated her from the big red circle around her appointment. She was used to it by now - she had stopped flinching every time she caught sight of a pig's face in the mirror.
Most importantly, Callie was no longer so alone. After watching Tim suddenly become so... freakishly willing to accept his fate, shortly after going through what was easily the worst breakup of her life, she had pulled back. She had thought that if she could just protect herself from the frightening, unpredictable world out there, where anybody on the street could start salivating when they looked at you, maybe she would be safe that way. And then the days started to blur together and she found herself dazed, weakened, lying on the couch, and it was suddenly December 25th. That was when she realized she needed help.
Things had gotten a lot better since then. Tim had become a good friend, and he seemed to have gotten a little wiser in the past three months. And she was getting to know Penny, a lovely person with a sunny personality - which thankfully no longer came off as a pun. But it was Mindy who had been the most helpful of them all - and not just because she was slowly learning to incorporate magic into everyday household chores. The witch had been a frequent guest at her apartment all throughout January, and her visits had not slowed down now that it was well into February. Mindy clearly enjoyed the girl's company, and Callie always looked forward to having her come over.
She was looking forward to it now, on this otherwise uneventful Friday afternoon. There was a heavy snow coating the window outside, and she no longer had the blinds drawn so tightly that she couldn't see it. Callie was absent-mindedly scrolling through her social media feed, clutching a soft-tipped stylus in her hoof-fingered hand so she could still use the touch-screen. She flinched a little bit when a smiling selfie of Keith popped up. Why was she even still following him? He was posing with an equally menacing lioness. Judging by the caption below the image, they had hit it off almost as soon as they got to Nevada and were already expecting a litter of baby ligers. Callie wondered if she would be socially obligated to leave a comment on the post, but she just couldn't bring herself to congratulate them.
Callie's stylus was hovering over the "Unfollow" button when she heard a knock at the door. A few weeks ago, she would have cautiously gotten up, careful not to let her hooves click audibly against the floor as she approached the peephole. Now, she knew exactly who to expect, and the anxious weight on her mind had gotten a lot lighter. She eagerly pulled open the door to find that bright green face smiling just as widely as her own.
She fell into an animated conversation with Mindy as easily as anyone she'd ever known. They were chatting like that for a while before a touchy subject came up. "It was really nice of Tim and Penny to invite us to come out with them for dinner tonight," Mindy said, clearly prodding a little bit. "Just the four of us. Are you looking forward to it?"
"Oh, uh, I don't know if I really want to go," Callie stammered.
"I checked, the restaurant is totally vegetarian," Mindy offered.
"It's not that," Callie said. "I just... look, you've been so kind to me these past few weeks, and so have those two. I'm not saying I don't appreciate it, but... I just don't know if I'm ready to go out in public looking like this" - she gestured all up and down her body, lingering as she pointed to her face - "anymore than I absolutely have to. Do you think they would mind if the two of us just... stay in tonight?"
Mindy scrunched up her face in thought for a moment, then spoke in a whisper, as if she had a secret to reveal. "Okay, how about this," she said as she leaned in closer toward Callie. "I wasn't sure how to bring this up, but I've been studying that book Tim got for me and, um, I think I might have the basics of it figured out by now." She looked uncertain, her eyes darting around as she continued. "I think I can turn you back."
Callie's heart started racing when she heard those words. She could be fully human again. Right here. Right now. The very thought made her feel more overwhelmed than excited. There was no doubt in her mind that this was what she wanted, but... she was more than a little nervous. Most of that feeling, she knew, came from how nervous Mindy seemed even bringing it up.
Whenever Callie had longingly daydreamed about the moment she could finally have her reversion appointment, she'd always imagined it being carried out by an experienced, licensed magical professional - as strange as that still sounded to her ears. This, on the other hand, felt totally unpredictable. She started to wonder how many ways this could go wrong. There were certainly worse fates out there than being stuck as a mostly-human pig-woman for a couple more months. She'd seen plenty of them with her own eyes.
"R-really?", she said in a hushed tone that matched Mindy's. "Are you sure? I mean, they told people not to try using magic on themselves just because they suddenly have it in them."
"I know," Mindy said, trying to project a little more confidence this time as she leaned further in. She noticed that one of Callie's hands was trembling so much that the hardened, hoof-like parts were starting to clack and clatter against each other. She took that hand in her own, then looked up into Callie's eyes. "That's why I wasn't going to just start experimenting on you. Even back when you sort of wanted me to. But I have been practicing. I wasn't going to say anything until I was sure I had it right." Then she started to smile a little bit. "Look at this."
Mindy reached into her purse and suddenly produced a live hamster, which squeaked gently in her hand. Had she just been carrying that thing around with her all this time? Anticipating the question, Mindy quickly explained. "A witch has got to have a familiar, hasn't she? I wanted something small, because it has to follow you wherever you go and all. So I went to Pet World and got this little guy. Well, they took one look at me and they made me sign all this extra paperwork, saying I wasn't going to use it in ritual sacrifices or anything like that." She shook her head. "Kind of silly when most people are probably buying them to feed to their snakes. Well, they didn't say I couldn't do this!"
Suddenly the hamster started to wriggle there in her bright green palms, its body rapidly expanding and changing shape as it did. The comment she had made a moment ago must have still been on her mind, because the rodent's little limbs were now disappearing into its furless flesh as its fat little body became much longer and thinner. The familiar seemed completely comfortable with its sudden change into a serpent - clearly, this was not the first time Mindy had done something like this. Flicking its tongue in satisfaction, the snake slithered up the witch's forearm and took a victory lap around the back of her neck before landing face-first in her other palm, where it promptly shrank back into a hamster.
Callie was amazed by the display. The novelty of seeing that sort of magic in action had still not worn off for her. Her skepticism was gone by the time she was watching the hamster get stuffed back into Mindy's purse. "Do it," she breathed quietly.
"What?", Mindy said. "Oh, uh, yeah, of course!" The hand that was still inside her purse fumbled around until it fished out a small black notebook. She flipped it open, revealing that just about every page was covered in strange-looking symbols and explanatory notes, most of which had been hastily crossed out. Mindy hunted through the book until she found the one spell that was proudly circled. "Okay, uh, just try to... hold still, I guess, and I'll read it out."
The moment Mindy started to read out those ancient syllables - slowly and hesitantly, like the mysterious foreign language they were - Callie could feel the static electricity in the air. It was the same tingling sensation she'd felt on that Halloween night when her whole life changed, and now it was once again sweeping across her whole body. Her eyes were shut tightly at first - like they were last time - but when she felt a sudden pressure starting to push its way into her face, she involuntarily opened them again. She could see that pig snout, which she could never quite ignore at the bottom of her vision, starting to recede.
Immediately, full of excitement, Callie tilted her head down and inched forward in her seat, wanting to watch the rest of the changes as they happened. Then she remembered what Mindy had told her about sitting still while it was happening. Realizing she'd already broken that rule, she settled for trying to freeze in her new position. She could still see what she wanted to see, though. The three hardened masses that stuck out from each of her hands started to shimmer as they cracked open, splitting apart once again into five skinny fingers.
And just behind that in her sight, she could feel the same sharp pins-and-needles tingling passing down into her lower hooves, which was incredible all by itself. All this time, they'd been so numb, so dead of feeling, that it was like she was wearing the tightest and most constricting of high heels 24/7, always leaning forward on what felt like tiptoes. Her legs changed shape completely, finally bending the right way again at the knee, just as her toes started to peek out of fully human feet.
The sensation of change was gone as quickly as it had started. Figuring that she could safely move again, Callie brought her newly-restored hands up to her face - and felt a completely normal nose and mouth when they got there. They also found two wet little trails running down her cheeks, as the overwhelming joy of the moment sank in. She started to scooch forward, preparing to get to her feet, when she felt something twitch at her back. That was a feeling she'd had plenty of time to get used to, and it took a second to register that it shouldn't be there now. She glanced back behind herself. A curly pig's tail still stuck out from just above her waistband.
Mindy noticed it at about the same time. Her mind started racing as she looked the girl up and down, trying to remember exactly what she'd looked like when she arrived at that Halloween party. Her skin... was that another lingering trace of her pig form, or had her complexion always been that pink? And wasn't she thinner beforehand? The tail, though, was unmistakable. "Oh my god," she said frantically. "I'm so sorry, Callie. You know, I shouldn't have even brought it up - I knew I wasn't 100% ready. I should have given it a couple more days, and kept refining the spell until I was sure I had it righ-"
Callie smiled widely as she prepared to cut Mindy's apology off mid-sentence. "Are you kidding?", she snorted. That was something else the spell maybe hadn't properly fixed, but she didn't seem to mind. "This" - she gestured at the tail - "this, I can hide! I've been tucking it into my clothing this whole time. Easy. You got all the important stuff. My face, my hair, my hands - my fingers! I have fingers again! Don't apologize, Mindy. This is such a huge improvement. And now I feel a lot better about going to that dinner tonight."
Mindy seemed skeptical of her reaction, and picked up right where she left off. "I'll keep working on it," she promised. "I swear I'll get this right, as soon as I can."
Callie just giggled. "Take all the time you need. This is already the best Valentine's Day present I've ever gotten."
"Valentine's Day?" Now Mindy's expression was fully agape. "Is that- I didn't mean-"
"Wait, is that why Tim and Penny invited us out with them tonight?" Callie knew she was just teasing Mindy at this point. "A double date?"
"Do they think we're... getting together?" Mindy's voice was strained almost to the point of breaking.
Callie looked a little more serious this time. "Are we getting together?"
"I... I don't know," Mindy said, and immediately knew that was a terrible answer. "I mean, I really do like spending time with you. And not just when it's about helping you with your changes. If you want me to keep coming over, I will. But I don't know... If this is..."
"This can be whatever we want it to be," Callie said. "Like I said before, take all the time you need." But she had to admit to herself - from the moment her lips had returned to the right place on her head, she was thinking about how much better they would be to kiss with.