It wasn't too long after Amy's latest change that her keen feline ears picked up Lina's voice calling from halfway across the store. Amy bounded on her hind paws through the aisles and finally found her friend.
"There you are! I've been looking all over for you," Lina said happily. Amy was more than a little confused by this. First of all, she'd ever heard Lina speak in such an over-delighted mood to her before, and second, why wasn't Lina asking her about her hair, ears, paws and tail?
"Um, Lina?" Amy asked. "You're not wondering about--"
"You're gonna love what I found. These practically called out to me. I think they're very you!" Lina held up a red leather collar and a black leash with red diamonds painted on it.
Amy took a few steps away from Lina. "What...why did you want to get those for me?"
"Because you need them, silly! I know you wouldn't think of running off on me, but I can't afford to take the risk. Not in a town like this."
"Lina, you're not wondering about what happened to me?"
Lina frowned. "What happened? Are you hurt?" She approached Amy and grasped her furry arms, looking them over.
"I changed!" Amy laughed. "You're putting me on, right? Tell me you're joking." Amy desperately hoped that Lina had actually witnessed one or more of her changes and decided to pull this prank on her.
But Lina looked at her sternly. "You don't look any different from the day I bought you."
"BOUGHT ME?!" Amy wrenched her arms away from Lina and retreated another several steps. Lina, however, stalked closer to her as she did so.
"Your parents sold you to me six months ago. Are you feeling okay? Did you hit your head?"
Amy was very confused. One thing was for sure, her parents did NOT sell her to anyone, and she definitely hadn't been a cat-girl for more than an hour. "Lina, this is impossible. How can you--"
Lina wasn't paying her any more attention. She wrapped the collar around Amy's neck and quickly fastened the buckle. Amy choked for a second, but the collar wasn't uncomfortably tight. "What are you doing?"
"I have to put this collar on you!" Lina said, annoyed now. "I thought you'd like it. Red's your favorite color."
Amy tried to undo the buckle, but her thick, half-paw hands were too clumsy. She couldn't even see the collar from her point of view, but she managed to lift the gold diamond tag that was dangling off the front of it. She was barely able to see it, but she could make out AMY written on it.
"I even had it embossed for you. It wasn't cheap." Lina's face was dead serious. Amy knew that, whatever had happened, Lina definitely believed she was her pet. "Are you ready to go home?"
Amy gave one glance around the aisles as Lina attached the leash to her collar. There had to be some way to convince Lina that she wasn't a pet.