"Thank goodness you're here," E.B. said to me as we hopped past the last line of trees and into the suburban cul-de-sac I knew so well. "I normally start laying the eggs as soon as it gets dark and keep going until dawn. We've lost about half of that time already. If I were doing this alone, it would be hopeless! But with two of us... we should have no problem. As long as we get started right now."
"There's only one problem with that idea," I told him. "I don't know how to do that."
He just looked back and grinned. "Remind me how you cast that powerful magic back there?"
"I really don't know how," I said. "It just sorta came to me naturally in the moment."
"Well," he said, "I think this is probably going to work the same way. But I can give you some pointers."
"Do you mean that pointer?" I gave my best sultry, teasing voice, gesturing toward his sheath.
"Not right now," he said flatly. "Not unless you want to fertilize those eggs, and then some kid has a little baby were-bunny hatching in his hands. Plus, we don't have time for that right now. But if we finish the job with enough time left before daybreak... then yes, I do mean that pointer."
We were coming up on the first house's front yard now, the grass rustling beneath my paws. "So how do we do it?", I asked.
"You're a magical creature now, buddy. You can make a lot of seemingly impossible things happen just by wishing for it. You just... have to... nnngh... picture it in your mind," he said, breathing heavily. And I immediately saw why. He was leaning backward on the ground, and a bright blue, round curve was starting to crown from his opening. As he pushed it, gently but firmly, out of his body, I was shocked. I thought to myself that it looked a lot larger than any egg, Easter-decorated or otherwise, that I'd ever seen - but then I remembered that I was only three feet tall, and the egg was only half the size I was imagining. Not that this was very reassuring when I was supposed to produce that from my own vagina somehow. I was still standing there, mouth hanging open, while he finished laying the egg and started to roll it into the bushes with his paws.
"Well?", he said, looking back in my direction. "Don't tell me you're gonna give up on me now. It's not painful, if that's what you're thinking. Better than giving live birth, that's for sure."
He put a paw on my shoulder, and I smiled back at him. I trusted him. And suddenly I knew I could do it. I closed my eyes and thought of the perfect Easter egg, pink and purple and yellow all over. I imagined having that thing inside of me, and suddenly it was. I felt it, large and round and smooth, a solid mass filling up most of my abdomen. I opened my eyes and saw that I looked heavily pregnant now, the curve of the egg pushing the skin of my chest outward. I closed my eyes again, not really wanting to watch what was going to happen next. It was a good thing my anatomy had become so malleable, or else this thing was never getting out in one piece. And the feeling of pushing it out was surprisingly familiar to me - it was a lot like letting out a long-awaited dump, just from a different hole - and incredibly satisfying. The pressure it created inside of me all let loose as the egg slid out.
I opened my eyes to find E.B. inspecting the finished product, turning it over in his paws. The speckled blasts of color that covered every inch of the egg's surface, I realized, looked a lot like the kaleidoscopic ball of magic that had saved us both. I must have done that subconsciously.
"Hmm." He looked uncertain. "I hate to waste a perfectly good egg, especially at a time like this. But since it's your first time, I just have to make sure..." With one swift motion, he cracked the shell cleanly into two halves, revealing what was inside. Immediately underneath the colorful shell was a thick layer of what appeared to be chocolate. And in the center, a little plastic ball with a prize in it - a miniature figurine of a white rabbit that looked just like E.B.
"It's perfect," he said as he reached inside and picked up the tiny version of himself.
"I didn't even know I was doing that," I said. "Is that really chocolate? Is it... edible?"
"Well, I'm not going to taste-test it," he replied. "That's human food - not good for us. But it all looks right to me. You're a natural, buddy. Now keep them coming. We can't stay on this one lawn all night."
I steeled myself. It had already been a long night, but I didn't feel the least bit tired now. I conjured another egg without having to really concentrate at all - just the thought that I needed to do it again caused it to appear inside me. This time, I kept my eyes open, seeing the distended shape that poked out under my ribcage move lower and lower until the orange orb slid out between my legs. In that moment, I knew I could keep doing this all night. I was ready. I did it again, and again, and again, looking over to E.B. and noticing that he wasn't doing it much faster than me. Before long, enough eggs had popped out that they had rolled down to my feet - paws - and formed a little stacked pyramid. And I could see that no two of them were perfectly alike, their wild patterns of pastel colors in stripes and zig-zags and polka-dots always unique.
"You're doing great," E.B. said as he came over and gently tapped the top egg on the pile. "But you're forgetting the most important part."
"What's that?", I asked.
"We have to hide them," he replied. "This is more than enough for one house. I'll take a few over to the next lawn, but I want to see how you do by yourself. Just make sure it's fun for the kids to try and find. Not too hard, not too easy."
A challenge. I liked the sound of that. The eggs were big enough that it felt unwieldy to carry them around in my paws, so I rolled them along the ground, one at a time, until I found a good hiding spot for each of them. In the flower beds? Sure. Under the bushes? Make sure they don't have any thorns first. How about putting one in the crawlspace under the back porch? Looked good to me. I had just finished putting the last one away when E.B. came back. I thought he would need me to explain where I'd put them all, but he seemed to know exactly where they all were, instantly. Magically. Of course he would.
"I knew it," he said, sounding pleased. "I knew a human would have some clever ideas about where to hide an egg around a human house. I mean, I never would've thought of that." He was pointing at the one I'd stashed just behind the water meter. "I don't even know what that thing is. You humans never had those when I first started doing this. You're the best helper I could've asked for. Now let's get this done. We only have a few hours until dawn, and a whole neighborhood to cover."
And so we went along like that all night, holding his paw in mine as we hopped over fences and crawled under hedgerows. He knew, with that magical accuracy, exactly which houses had children living in them, and we could skip the rest - including my own empty house, of course, which looked so gloomy now as it loomed over us in the darkness. Thankfully, we didn't hang out there for very long. Sometimes when a backyard was done, I would steal a quick kiss off of his muzzle. Sometimes he would return the favor, and it flustered me every single time. Not enough to distract me from the job, though. Just enough to keep me going.
I felt like I was barely even getting started when E.B. put a paw to my chest and announced that we had just finished the last house in his territory. But sure enough, just over the fence I got the faintest whiff of another were-rabbit - this one clearly female - who must have been making the last of her own rounds. I briefly wondered what her story was, but I knew it couldn't be as exciting as ours. And now, as we hopped back to the edge of the forest where we'd started, I could see the bright orange clouds peeking over the horizon, the sun preparing to show its face at any moment. But rather than celebrating a job well done, I felt a sharp pang of sadness that I'd been completely unprepared for. Our time together was almost at an end.
E.B. didn't seem to be in the mood to celebrate, either. His ears were flat against his head with disappointment. "You did an amazing job tonight, buddy, but..." He sighed. "I'm sorry I pulled you into all of this. I swear, I'll find a way to take that transformation magic off of you without killing you, and I'll do it as quick as I can. Maybe I'll have it figured out by the next full moon? Either way, I guess I'll be seeing you then."
In all the despair and excitement of the past few days, from were-rabbit to werewolf and back again, I had completely forgotten about my desire to be human. And as I thought about it now, I still wasn't looking forward to getting my plain old life back. In fact, I was dreading the thought of going into work Monday morning even more than usual - regardless of whether or not Dirk was going to be there. I reached for E.B.'s paws and squeezed them in my own. "Don't worry about it too much," I said. "If it takes a lot longer than a month... I'll be glad to see you every full moon. And, hey, don't you think you might need a helper around... next Easter?"
I watched his floppy ears stand straight up at attention, an excited smile form on his muzzle. "You really mean it?"
"I really do," I replied, my whiskers twitching in anticipation for what I wanted to say next. It seemed insane, after all my failed experiences on the human dating scene, to pour my heart out this quickly, but I had to tell him. "I... I love you, E.B. I know this won't be easy to do, but... I want to be your mate. Even if we can only be together for a few nights every month... I want nothing more than to spend those nights with you."
E.B.'s eyes were welling up with happy tears. "I love you, too." He pushed forward to kiss me just as the brilliant rays of the sun started to appear in the distance. I closed my eyes, imagining that maybe I could make this perfect moment last a little longer if I just pretended not to see it. I could feel both of our bodies changing as my nose and lips pressed against his. I wished, with all my heart, that we could be together forever - or even just a little bit longer.
But maybe I could still make this work somehow, I told myself. Maybe I could just go to Pet World and buy a nice little rabbit hutch to put in my bedroom. I'd have a pet most of the time and occasionally a live-in boyfriend. That wouldn't be too weird, would it? Would he agree to that, though? Could I even communicate with him once he was back to his full rabbit form? I kept squeezing my eyes tightly shut and pressing my lips against his, not caring how weird it would look if anyone saw a human man making out with a tiny little rabbit. It was only when I felt the changes shudder to a stop that I finally, reluctantly, let go.
And when I opened my eyes...